Synchrony
by Fangren
Summary: All across the city of Canterlot, stories are written and told each day. And one story on a hectic Saturday begins as many, each part looking forward with excitement, none foreseeing what was to come. [Sequel to the SYNCHRONY oneshots; concurrent with Oathmaker.]
1. Chapter 1 - The Clock Strikes Eight

**Author's Note**

Hello again, everyone! I hope you're all doing well. I'm happy to finally present to you my second big fic in this particular narrative universe, coming after Oathmaker and the nine prequel oneshots. This story takes place in the Equestria Girls world, and continues the plots that were started in the oneshots. Big thanks to Applety on Fimfiction for editing this!

I hope you enjoy.

\- Fangren

* * *

 **Chapter 1 – The Clock Strikes Eight**

The clock face set in the tower that had once been the tallest building in Canterlot struck 8 o'clock, and all across the city its tiny modern cousins mimicked its call in near-perfect synchrony. It was an average Saturday morning a couple weeks after the solstice, the summer sun already bright and warm and threatening to get brighter and warmer as the day crept on. As many stories as there were people would be written and told that day, and few of Canterlot's citizens would ever fully realize the roles they would play in all the stories not their own.

Such is the nature of life. Ever-moving, ever-changing, ever-concerned with the present and rarely the world beyond. And yet, for all their ignorance, all lives remain connected.

For better, or for worse.

* * *

On near-opposite sides of town, two girls had been awake for nearly an hour thanks to the anxiety their plans for the day had brought them. On the second floor of a house in one of the nicer neighborhoods Twilight Sparkle paced her room, breakfast growing cold on her desk as she reviewed her schedule for the umpteenth time that morning.

"Okay. Assuming the buses don't experience a more significant delay than usual, and of course that any number of _other_ disastrous occurrences don't occur, Sunset should be getting here at approximately 9:03. That will leave us with eleven minutes to exchange greetings-"

"- _and_ introduce her to your parents," her dog Spike interjected with a knowing smirk.

"Yes, and that," Twilight continued with a faint blush. "Then we have to confirm both our objectives for today _and_ our schedule before we head out to catch the next bus so we can get to the hardware store by 9:30."

"Is there any reason you _have_ to be there by then?" Spike asked.

"W-well, it's right after the store opens, so there shouldn't be too many people there," Twilight explained. "We'll be able to get what we need more efficiently."

Spike shrugged. "Makes sense to me," he said before turning his attention to a chew toy.

"Right," Twilight said, taking a breath before resuming her pacing. "So. I figure that we can use the trip to and from the hardware store to fill each other in on any relevant preliminary information we haven't shared yet. You know," she clarified for her inattentive pet, "a summary of what Sunset already knows about this world's magic, how my device works, that sort of thing."

"Uh-huh," Spike said between gnaws of a particularly large rawhide bone.

"We should be done obtaining the supplies I'll need to rebuild the detector in time to catch the 10:01 bus," Twilight continued, paying as much attention to Spike as he was to her. "Though of course actually _doing_ the rebuilding will take far longer. I estimate that if we stay on task and don't encounter any significant issues, we'll be done in time for a late lunch. And, we can give the device a test run afterward!" she finished with a smile.

"Sounds good!" Spike told her with a smile of his own. "Just like all the other times you've run it by me."

"Great, because it's too late for any significant changes to it," Twilight said. "Part _two_ of today's schedule, on the other hand..."

* * *

And in what she felt was almost certainly the cheapest (and therefore lowest-quality) apartment in the worst-off part of town, Sunset Shimmer was doing much the same in her kitchen-slash-living area. She had no written schedule to go over, nor anyone to go over it with, but she did have several pages of notes to review from the last time she'd tried to research her friends' magic. Too much of it had been little more than question marks and frustrated scrawls, but with a clearer mind she had managed to summarize her conclusions over the day-and-a-half since she'd last met with Twilight.

She'd also printed out what little information she'd been able to track down about her human counterpart, but that was an entirely separate matter.

"I can't believe she's been missing for five _years_ ," Sunset said to herself, looking over a copy of an old missing person notice depicting a fourteen-year-old girl that looked exactly like she'd imagined a younger version of her human body would. The scowling face, the wavy two-toned hair, even the way she dressed resembled what Sunset could see herself wearing at that age. She shoveled another spoonful of dry store-brand cereal into her mouth, and looked at another page detailing the other Sunset's life. Apparently she'd been an orphan, much like Sunset herself, but instead of having her talents recognized at a young age and getting whisked away to the most prestigious school of magic – and eventually personal tutelage under Princess Celestia herself – the other Sunset...hadn't. She'd just been stuck in a children's home on the other side of Canterlot, going to a normal school like any other kid.

At least, as far as Sunset could piece together from the missing person notice and a few newspaper articles about her. The other Sunset seemed to have been a 'troubled' child, which didn't surprise her. She knew how much _she_ had hated living in the orphanage, how much she hated being pitied and looked down on, and how much it had only driven her desire to prove herself to the world by whatever means necessary...

Sunset could understand why the other her would have left, but... "Where _are_ you?" she wondered aloud, feeling a pit of dread forming in her stomach.

* * *

While their friends took breakfast, the son and daughters of Sweet Apple Acres on the outskirts of the city went about their morning chores. All four Apples had been awake since dawn, tending the orchards and feeding the animals and processing the apples and more. The two youngest worked in haste, Applejack and Apple Bloom each wanting to finish their assignments so they could go about preparations for what they _really_ wanted to do that day.

For Apple Bloom, that was a day out on the town with her two best friends full of adventure and do-goodery. They were to be chaperoned by Big McIntosh, who was mostly operating under the assumption that it wouldn't take long before the three girls grew bored and decided to return to the farm, and in the meantime it would give him the chance to stock up on a few things he needed.

Applejack, on the other hand, had a date. A date she had sworn to keep secret lest the truth ruin her relationship with her friends, but a date nonetheless. It had been a struggle to keep it under wraps so far, considering how much she had been looking forward to it for months, but Applejack felt confident that she'd managed to keep her promise to the girl that had captured her heart.

"And once everythin' turns out better than she coulda ever dreamed of," Applejack said to herself with a light chuckle as she tended to the fruitlets on the last of the trees in the southern orchard, "Rarity will finally realize there's no _point_ in hidin'. Not from our friends, anyway."

Her work in the orchard done for the time being, Applejack picked up her massive crate of tools and headed back in to the farmhouse – nominally to take care of her last few chores in the family garden, but in actuality to keep track of her siblings' whereabouts. Their plan for the day had given Applejack exactly the opportunity she'd been looking for to fulfill another promise she'd made to Rarity, and all she had to do was wait for them to leave...and then ask Granny Smith for permission to use the kitchen.

Well, it wasn't a perfect plan for stealth, but Applejack wanted to do things right. And you just didn't take over a kitchen for two hours without asking first.

And so, once the garden had been watered and weeded and she was looking for something else to do to stall for time, Applejack finally caught sight of Apple Bloom and Big McIntosh getting in the big truck and driving off. She couldn't help but smile, and wiped the sweat from her brow and put away the tools and went inside to wash up. There she found Granny Smith in the kitchen, scrubbing out empty preserve jars.

"Oh, there ya are Applejack," she said, looking up as her granddaughter entered the room with a sheepish smile. "Go an' fetch another crate a' jars from the barn, will ya?"

"Uhh, sure Granny," Applejack answered, hesitant but obedient. "But, uhh, I was wonderin' if..." She paused, just long enough for Granny Smith to narrow her eyes and raise an eyebrow. "If ya minded me makin' a small batch of fritters right now."

"Fritters?" Granny Smith questioned, holding her gaze for a few seconds before brightening rather abruptly and answering "Why a' course! Heck, I'll even help ya," she added, setting aside the jar she'd been washing and drying her hands on a towel. "More fun than washin' _jars_. Whadaya need the fritters for, anyway?"

"Uh...well...y'see..." Applejack stammered, her body becoming stiff as she found herself trapped between a promise to her girlfriend and an ingrained inability to lie to her grandmother. "The thing is...," she gulped, "I, uh, I wanna share 'em with one of my friends. That's all."

Immediately, Granny Smith's eyes narrowed again. She put her hands on her hips and leaned in close enough that Applejack began to sweat under her scrutinizing gaze. "One a' yer _friends_ , eh?"

"That's what I said," Applejack answered, forcing herself to stand up straighter.

"Just the one?" Granny asked, her gaze relaxing but her words coming faster. "As in single? Less than two, but more than zero?"

"Yeah!" Applejack replied, annoyance quickly breaking through her nerves and flinging her arms up. "Just me and her and nobody else!"

Granny Smith cracked a smile and laughed, and even more so once her granddaughter began to realize just what she'd said. "Well why didn't ya say so! Sure must be a _special_ friend if yer goin' to all the trouble of bakin' some fritters just fer the two of ya!" She gave Applejack a light punch in the arm, then bent down and pulled a mixing bowl and spoons from one of the cupboards.

"C-c'mon, Granny, I didn't-" Applejack tried to say, rubbing her arm at first then following her grandmother to the pantry.

"Hah!" Granny laughed, turning back around and thrusting a bag of flour and a bag of sugar into her granddaughter's arms. "If it weren't true, you wouldn't'a been so wishy-washy askin' me. Don't know why you thought yer old Granny Smith wouldn't see right through ya, though."

Applejack sighed, putting the ingredients on the counter as Granny Smith moved on to the refrigerator. "Sorry, Granny. It's just that, well, she doesn't want me tellin' anybody about us just yet."

"Ohh, so it's one of _those_ deals, is it?" Granny replied with a knowing nod as she set a carton of eggs on the counter. "Well, you can count on me not t'spill the beans, then."

"Thanks, Granny," Applejack said, putting on a smile as she began to crack the eggs into a smaller bowl. "I promise it won't stay a secret for very long. A few more weeks at most, I reckon."

"Good, good," Granny told her. "Don't wanna put it off fer too long, or else ya won't have nobody to invite to yer weddin'!" She laughed, and Applejack blushed.

"Granny!"

* * *

And far away, her lover was anxiously awaiting her own family's departure. "So, ah, when, pray tell, will they be arriving here?" Rarity asked her sister, sitting with her on the sofa in the front room of their house, sipping a hot cup of tea.

"I told you," Sweetie Belle replied without looking up from her phone, "they only _just_ left the farm. Plus they're gonna pick up Scootaloo on the way here. It's still gonna be a _while_."

"I _see_...," Rarity said, frowning slightly and looking at her own phone. "Well then, I suppose I'd best hop in the shower and start getting ready as well. Be a dear and give me a holler when you're about to leave, will you?" she asked, standing up and walking past her sister.

"Umm, okay," Sweetie replied, giving her a rather confused look. "What are you getting ready _for_ , anyway? I thought you were just gonna spend the whole morning watching soap operas in your bathrobe."

Rarity stopped in mid-step, eyes wide open in surprise. She looked at the steaming cup of tea in her hand, to the plush white robe she was wearing, then turned around with a wide and forced grin on her face. "But of course! I simply...," she paused, "wanted to freshen up first! I can hardly stand to watch anything while I'm _dirty_ , Sweetie Belle."

Sweetie's eyes narrowed as she regarded her sister with suspicion. " _Sure_..."

"Well then, as I said, let me know when you're leaving," Rarity said with as much nonchalance as she could muster, which wasn't nearly enough to divert her sister's suspicions. Rarity left nonetheless, taking one last drink of tea before dropping the cup off in the kitchen and heading upstairs. She dithered in the hallway, however, caught between a desire to choose and set out the outfit for her date with Applejack, and taking the shower as she'd told Sweetie Belle.

In the end, she fell on the side of caution and took her shower. Sweetie was _clearly_ suspicious, she reasoned, and would only become moreso if Rarity didn't keep up her act. There was also the possibility of her deciding to go snooping in her big sister's room, and while Rarity didn't think that was likely she also didn't want to risk leaving out some of her best clothes where her sister could see and question them.

Fortunately, by the time she'd gotten out of the shower again it didn't seem like Sweetie had decided to do any impromptu and untoward investigations of Rarity's room. Nor did it seem like she'd left the house yet, either. However, this only caused Rarity to realize that she would have to delay getting herself dressed once again – she could still at least dry and style her hair, of course, as well as surreptitiously call the restaurant she'd booked to double-check the reservations for that night, but it wasn't enough. She wanted to get dressed, put on make-up, get herself absolutely _perfect_ for when her darling Applejack first laid eyes on her this morning. Not being able to do that without risking her sister taking notice and asking all sorts of awkward questions was eating away at Rarity, all that tension and longing and frustration forming a tight little ball in the pit of her stomach that threatened to do all _sorts_ of nefarious things if left unchecked, and it just kept growing and growing until Rarity thought she was going to burst...

The doorbell rang, and before it even ended Rarity heard the door being flung open and excited words exchanged. The sound of rapid footsteps, and Sweetie Belle's voice echoed through the house. "I'm leaving, Rarity!" More footsteps, and the door slammed.

Rarity let out her breath. "Finally!" she moaned, immediately rushing back into her room and throwing open the doors of her wardrobe.

* * *

While the lovers prepared for their date, another family in another house in another part of town were preparing for something else entirely.

"Ooh! Ooh! How about streamers! Is it too late to get streamers?" Pinkie asked excitedly, waving around the mixing spoon she was holding and flinging bits of batter onto her mother and twin sister.

"For the last time, Pinkie," said Limestone as she walked past carrying a vacuum cleaner, "no streamers!" Pinkie drew herself up in preparation for another suggestion, but Limestone cut her off immediately. "And no balloons, either!"

Pinkie deflated, and her mother put a hand on her shoulder. "Do not worry yourself, Pinkamena," said Cloudy Quartz, offering a rare smile. "We shall put your talents to use in a splendid celebration when Maudalina formally receives her doctorate in a fortnight's time."

"Mm-hm!" Marble added with a happy smile, wiping the batter from her cheek.

Pinkie sighed and resumed her mixing. "Okay... I just wanted to make today even _more_ extra special than it's already gonna be. I want Maud to be super, _duper_ excited when she gets here and realizes just how excited _we_ all are for her to be back!"

"I...I'm sure she already will," Marble offered.

"Indeed," Cloudy Quartz chimed in. "For are you not planning an outing to the city proper as sisters?" she asked. "I am certain she will have a great appreciation for the gesture."

"I know," Pinkie told them, her sadness fading but her cheer not quite returned. "But I just can't help but feel like today needs a little something _more_ , you know?" She looked up in thought, and tapped the messy spoon against her chin. "The cupcakes are gonna be _amazing_ , and walking around the city is gonna be _super_ fun too. I just can't shake the feeling that we need something, I don't know," she waved the end of the spoon around in a circle, "even _more_ exciting." It was then that she noticed the cupcake batter she'd gotten on her nose and cheek, and licked it up with a happy giggle.

Her mother frowned. "Now, Pinkamena, do not wish for excitement lest wicked forces deign to grant it."

"Yeah, Pinkie," Limestone added with an almost mocking tone as she walked by again, "you don't wanna jinx it, do you?"

Pinkie gasped dramatically. "No! I _don't_ wanna jinx it!"

Limestone laughed. "Well then," she paused when she noticed the stern look her mother was leveling her way, and became nervous. "Uh...well, don't worry about it," she said gruffly. "The day's gonna be great as-is, it doesn't need anything else. Got it?"

"Mmm...," Pinkie murmured, scrunching her face up in thought. "Got it!" she decided, perking up considerably. Limestone saw her mother's look recede, and let out a small breath of relief. "Just think," Pinkie continued as she resumed stirring again, then began to pour the batter into an empty tray. "In just a few short hours, Maud's plane is gonna land! And _we're_ gonna be there to pick her up! And theee~ennn," she added with a growing grin, suddenly reaching out and pulling both her startled sisters into one big side-hug, "it'll be time for the best! Day! _Ever!_ "

"Mm-hmm!" Marble said with a happy smile that was soon reflected on the face of their elder sister and mother.

* * *

"Hah! I already found her? Best day ever!" said Rainbow Dash, perched atop a downtown highrise in her armored Pony-Up form, looking down at the streets below through a pair of binoculars. She quickly shoved them into the messenger bag she was carrying and jumped off the roof, flying on crystalline wings at the figure she'd seen. She left a rainbow-colored trail in her wake.

Her target was the costumed vigilante known only as the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well, a woman with fantastical abilities whom most had been quick to label a superhero. But Rainbow Dash could only see her as suspicious, both for the obviously magical nature of her powers and for always running away when confronted. After all, Rainbow Dash reasoned, what sort of hero wouldn't want to talk to another hero? And Rainbow Dash was as heroic as they came, as far as she was concerned at least. For nearly a week she'd been pursuing the mystery woman in the long cape and broad-rimmed fedora, but hadn't managed to so much as touch her even once.

Not that it had dissuaded her. "Come back here!" she yelled, ignorant of the gawkers watching her from below as she flew toward the alley she'd just seen Mare-Do-Well sweep into. "I've got you this time," she said with confidence as she entered the narrow passage, navigating it with a speed and deftness born from painful trial and error towards a dead-end she knew was there.

She turned the final corner, and saw nothing but scattered garbage. "What?!" she said, eyes wide with shock and growing panic. She shot up above the rooftops and frantically looked around for any trace of her quarry, but found none.

"Grr...not _again!_ " she growled, stamping the air with her foot out of frustration and flying off.

* * *

And yet elsewhere in the city, another girl was also fast approaching disappointment. After only three days of being forced to work alongside the Canterlot Rescue Center's newest 'volunteer', Fluttershy's nearly heart-stopping fear had been replaced by irritation, which had in turn peaked quite quickly. She wasn't about to abandon the Center and all her cute little animal friends, of course, so in search of some of the peace she'd once known there she had decided to come in early on Friday morning. Dr. Rescue, who ran the Center, had been surprised but understanding, and for an hour they'd shared a quiet respite before the subject of their mutual vexation arrived for his court-mandated community service.

Fluttershy had decided to do the same thing on Saturday, waking up extra early so she could get to the Center by 8:30. Taking the bus at such an unfamiliar hour was still a little bit intimidating, but the driver and other passengers had seemed nice enough. And without the prospect of running into Mr. Discord on the walk from the bus stop to the Center, Fluttershy was practically overjoyed. She even started humming to herself as she walked down the sidewalk, and stopped to greet all the city-dwelling animals that she met along the way.

"Oh, yes, that's really quite a shame," she told a sparrow that had landed on her finger and sang to her its problems. "But I _know_ you'll be able to build an even _better_ nest if you just try. I can even try to help you if I have the time later!" The sparrow sang happily, then flew away.

She resumed humming to herself all the way up to the steps of the Rescue Center, twirling around happily on one foot before opening the door...

...and seeing Mr. Discord smirking at her from behind the front counter. She froze in place, gaping in shock.

"Why _hello_ , Fluttershy!" he greeted. "I was just _wondering_ when you were going to come in..." He stood up and briefly disappeared behind the wall, only to open the door separating the reception area from the rest of the center moments later. He was wearing the same outfit he had every day he'd been there save the first: a set of old denim overalls stained with paint and other things, a long-sleeved white undershirt, and boots that looked sturdier than they probably were. He also carried his cane and tattered top hat, the only remnants of the gentlemanly image he seemed to prefer.

"U-umm...wh-what are you doing here so early, Mr. Discord?" Fluttershy asked, following him inside while keeping one hand on the pink crystal geode tucked inside a hidden pocket Rarity had sewn into her skirt.

"Oh, just thought I'd follow your example," the old conman-turned-convict answered with a sly and irreverent grin. "I thought young people today had no gumption or work ethic, but it seems I was _pleasantly_ mistaken."

As they walked down the hall towards one of the pet play areas, Fluttershy looked to the side and met the eyes of Dr. Rescue as she examined a dog in another room. They were tired for far more reasons than just the early hour, and a wave of sympathy passed between the two women.

Fluttershy turned a narrow-eyed look back to Mr. Discord. "You only came early so you could spend more time bothering me and Dr. Rescue, didn't you?"

Mr. Discord turned around, affecting an exaggerated look of affront. " _Me?_ " he asked, putting a hand to his heart. "Why Fluttershy, I am simply _aghast_ at your accusation! I merely thought that the more hours I put in to this place each day, the _sooner_ I will be finished with my community service. Surely you'd _like_ that, wouldn't you?" he asked, looming over her slightly.

Fluttershy sighed. "I guess so..." she said as she trudged past Mr. Discord and into the next room.

* * *

For each of them, their story that day began with hope; and none could foresee anything but their well-laid plans in what was yet to come. But all lives are connected, and while Canterlot's seven largely-unsung heroines began their days so too did countless others – including those with far less benign intentions.

About two blocks down from where Sunset Shimmer was catching the bus that would take her to the home of her best friend, research partner, and so much more, another Sunset Shimmer was exiting her room at the cheapest and most ramshackle motel in the city. She was accompanied, briefly, by her 'riding partner' Starlight Glimmer, but the two runaways parted ways almost immediately to go about their respective business.

For Starlight, this was mostly just a tour of the city to determine or verify the locations of restaurants, libraries, museums, and anything else that caught her interest. She also intended on trying to learn why the Sunset she knew and loathed had been acting so strangely about the city, but as their plan was to stay in the city for several days she had decided that there would be time enough for that later. It was smarter to treat this stop like any other, and familiarize herself with the layout of the city in case the police decided to show some interest in the pair.

But Sunset Shimmer, the _human_ Sunset Shimmer, had grown up in the city. True, she'd abandoned the city five years ago once she'd realized it had nothing to offer her, but the street map hadn't exactly changed much since then. A few new buildings, and many new businesses, but she still recognized it as her old stomping grounds. Suffice to say she didn't _need_ to take a tour of the city – not that she'd told Starlight as such, of course. The last thing she wanted was her 'partner' interfering in her day again.

Sunset grinned as she sped through the city on her motorcycle, headed nowhere in particular. All she'd ever wanted was power and the recognition that it brought, and everything she'd ever done had been in its pursuit. She didn't care how or where she got it, only that she got as much as she could as fast as she could. And that was why she'd decided to finally return to Canterlot despite all the memories it dredged up in her.

"Nothing to lose, everything to gain," she whispered to herself as she stopped at an intersection and searched the skyline for the so-called 'superheroes' that she'd heard about.

* * *

 **Author's Note - Post Script**

While this chapter, and a few others, touch upon all the major plot threads, most chapters will only follow one. This means that you won't necessarily be seeing some of the girls in-story for awhile - just wanted to let you all know in advance.

Anyway, let me know what you think of the story so far! And I'll see you all next time.

\- Fangren


	2. Chapter 2 - Social Consequences

**Author's Note**

Hello again everyone! I hope you're all excited for this :) Now, I will note that unlike the first chapter, which followed all of the established storylines, this chapter (and most others) we'll only be following one of them. This time, it's our dear researchers Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle. Next chapter will be Rarity and Applejack, and chapter 4 will likely be Rainbow Dash and her mysterious 'rival'.

Of course...that's not to say there won't be hints of the other storylines in each chapter ;)

Anyway, enjoy!

\- Fangren

* * *

 **Chapter 2 – Social Consequences of Bus-Schedule Adherence**

Sunset took a deep breath and walked up the driveway of the large, old-looking house that her best friend called home. It was thoroughly magenta in just about every detail, which surprised her, and was in the more well-off neighborhoods of Canterlot, which did not. Well-manicured lawns and picturesque gardens stretched as far as she could see, and the sun glinted off the several expensive-looking cars that hadn't been parked under shade trees.

She sighed. It was intimidating in its perfection, a reminder of this world's standards and her growing awareness of how poorly she fit them. This was her first time visiting Twilight Sparkle at her home, and thus the first time meeting her parents, and she wanted nothing more than to make a good impression. But every second she spent in the neighborhood only increased her self-doubt, and strengthened the little voice inside her that said she was only deluding herself that Twilight's family would like her after everything she is and has done. Just like she was only deluding herself that she and Twilight would ever be more than just friends...

"It'll be fine," she told herself under her breath, stopping on the porch. "There's no _way_ Twilight would tell them about how I used to be, so there's no point worrying about it. They'll _like_ me, so just...get it over with!" Another deep breath, a quick check of her bag to make sure everything was still there, and then she finally rang the doorbell.

The door swung open before the tone had a chance to finish, revealing Twilight Sparkle standing behind it with a grin that stretched from ear to ear. Without word or warning she grabbed Sunset by the shoulders and pulled her into the foyer, enveloping her in a warm and enthusiastic hug. "Sunset! Good morning! I'm so glad you were able to come!" she said, breaking the hug and taking a step back.

"Me too," Sunset answered after her blush faded. She took a quick look at what Twilight was wearing – a light and ruffled magenta blouse with the top button left open, a matching skirt of a darker shade, her crystal geode on a string around her neck, and a pin in her hair in the familiar starburst shape she seemed to favor. "You look nice today," she added. "New clothes?"

"Oh, no, just part of my usual rotation!" she explained with a blush. "Just...not part that I wear that often."

That just made Sunset even more self-conscious, and for just a moment she looked down at the clothes she had chosen – yet another variant on her standard outfit, light blue blouse with jeans and leather jacket. "Right, right, I should've known," she said, laughing it off.

"Don't worry about it," Twilight told her with a light hand-wave, oblivious to her friend's insecurity. "You look great too! So, umm," she continued before Sunset had a chance to respond, "did you bring everything?"

"Pretty much," Sunset replied, swinging her bag off her shoulder and opening it up. "I've got all my original notes and data as well as summaries of both," she explained as she rifled through the notebooks and files full of paper she had brought, pulling them out one by one. "Just so you understand _exactly_ how little I've been able to make sense of all of it," she added as she handed the first set of papers to Twilight. " _Plus_ I brought what little information I was able to find about our current 'person of interest'." She pulled out another file folder, and handed it to Twilight who was looking at the whole unopened stack with growing curiosity. "So, what did you wanna go over first?"

That snapped Twilight's attention away from the treasure trove of data just as she was about to open the first folder. "Oh! Well, actually-"

She was interrupted by the sound of a sliding door from a few rooms away, followed by a fast-paced scramble across both carpeted and hardwood floors. She wasn't surprised to see Spike turn the corner seconds later, and scamper down the hall towards them. "Hey Sunset! How ya been?" he asked the moment he stopped at their feet, tail wagging excitedly.

"Same as always," Sunset answered with a smile. She as about to say something else, but stopped when she saw two people walking up from what she assumed was the same place Spike had been. A gray-skinned woman with purple-and-white striped hair and a blue-skinned, blue-haired man, the two looked plenty old enough to be Twilight's parents – so Sunset assumed they were.

"Why hello! You must be Sunset Shimmer," the man greeted with a broad smile and an outstretched hand that Sunset promptly shook. "The name's Night Light, I'm Twily's father," he said, putting a hand on his suddenly-nervous daughter's shoulder.

"And _I'm_ Twilight Velvet," the woman greeted in a similar fashion, opening her arms for a hug that Sunset accepted with only a moment of awkwardness. "We've heard so much about you! It's so _great_ to finally meet one of Twilight's new friends."

"Thanks," Sunset replied. "Though it's a little surprising you haven't met any of us before now considering how long we've been friends."

Twilight interrupted with an awkward laugh. "Yes, well, there's never really been a reason for them to meet you before today," she explained. "I...don't exactly have people over very often."

"Same with me, to be honest," Sunset shrugged, not bothering to elaborate. "Can't judge you for that."

"Which is why this is such a big occasion!" Night Light said, still brimming with enthusiasm.

"And we really _must_ thank you for helping her come out of her shell," Twilight Velvet added, now taking Sunset's hands.

" _And_ for defending her from the bullies at her old school!" Night Light beamed at his daughter and gave her a pat on the shoulder.

"Uhh...thanks?" Sunset told them, brow raised in confusion. She sent a questioning look at Twilight, but she seemed to have frozen in a nervous grin.

"We were so _surprised_ when she suddenly wanted to transfer to CHS," Velvet continued, looking at her daughter but seemingly ignorant of her mood. "But we can't argue with the results! Six new friends, a boyfriend, and _all_ without sacrificing her future career." She sighed happily, but this only seemed to make Twilight's smile more grimace-like. Not that her parents noticed.

"It's also nice to know she has someone working with her on her science projects!" Night Light continued on. "Maybe _that'll_ help her remember not to skip meals," he said with a fatherly chuckle and wink.

"D-Dad!" Twilight stammered, cheeks lightened by embarrassment. "I haven't missed a meal in thirty-seven days!"

Night Light just chuckled again. "I know, Twily, I know. So, what is it you girls are gonna be researching today?" he asked with a look of genuine interest.

"Oh, it's nothing," Sunset answered. "We're just gonna try to-"

She was cut off by Twilight suddenly thrusting the stack of notes and data into her arms. "Sorry! Top secret! Gotta go!" she said rapidly, moving behind her bewildered friend and pushing her away from her parents all the way up to the next floor of the house.

"What was _that_ about?" Sunset asked while Twilight looked around the hall as though someone would step out of a room at any moment.

"They don't know about magic!" Twilight whispered through her teeth, leaning in close even while her eyes continued to dart around.

"Wait, seriously? You haven't told them yet?" Sunset asked, more confused than ever. Twilight gave her a pleading look, and so she continued at a whisper. "But how did you explain the fact that Spike can _talk?!_ "

"I panicked and said there was an accident with an untested biological nano-agent at the Friendship Games that made him smarter!"

"And they _believed_ that?!"

"Apparently!"

"What about Cadance?"

"I told her not to tell them! Same with Spike!"

Sunset groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You know you're gonna have to tell them _eventually_ , right?"

"I know!" Twilight replied, her shoulders sagging as she looked down at her feet. "I know...it's just...I'm not ready yet. I mean," she looked back up at Sunset, "what if they freak out about it? Or, or, or if they start thinking _I'm_ a freak?"

"Relax," Sunset said, smiling a putting a hand on her shoulder. "They seem pretty cool, all things considered. If they're fine with a talking dog I'm sure they'll be fine with a magical daughter too. And even if they aren't, you know you can always count on me and the girls to help you through it."

Twilight let out her breath and smiled, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks once again. "Right... You're right. Thanks. I really mean it."

"No problem," Sunset said, pulling back her hand. "Tell them when you're ready."

"I will," Twilight nodded. "I'll tell them everything..." Her expression became solemn for a moment, but she quickly put a smile back on. "So, let me show you my lab!"

Her 'lab' was, in fact, her bedroom. To say it was a complete mess would be a lie; it was a mess that had been hastily contained to the closet and desktop so that the bed could be made and the floor walked upon. The fact that the desk took up about one-and-a-half walls and the remainder was taken up primarily by bookshelves only stood as a testament to Twilight Sparkle's efficient use of space, or so Sunset imagined her friend would say if pressed.

"Sorry if it's a little cramped," Twilight said with a sheepish smile as she led her friend inside, Sunset casting curious looks around. There were stacks upon stacks of papers, texts, and notebooks piled as tall as could be managed in just about every nook and cranny she could see; the only places left bare were undoubtedly because they were too close to the various detectors and analyzers and other machines that had been set up. "I lost most of my storage space when I left Crystal Prep."

"That's what I figured," Sunset idly said as she looked more closely at a grouping of equipment that looked like it belonged in a chemistry lab. "So, as I was saying, what did you wanna go over first?" she asked, looking back and Twilight and holding up the stacks of papers in her arms.

"Actually, I was thinking we could wait to go over the details until later," Twilight replied. Sunset raised a brow. "I'd like to go over this morning's schedule first," she explained, pulling a checklist out of some unseen pocket and getting an amused smirk from her friend. "It's _important_ ," she said, her expression pointed and insistent. "How _else_ will we make sure we do everything we need to today?"

"It's true," said Spike, walking casually into the room. "Last time Twilight tried going without a schedule she got so caught-up in an experiment she forgot to sleep for a day and a half!"

Sunset's smirk widened into a smile as a blush crept onto Twilight's cheeks. "Okay, I get it, I get it," she said. "I prefer working on the fly, but I'll restrain myself for _you_ , Twilight."

Twilight's cheeks turned a slightly different shade. "R-right! Thanks!"

"So, what's first up on the list?" Sunset asked, setting her stack on the bed then stepping around to look at the checklist over Twilight's shoulder..

"Oh, that's easy," Twilight smiled. "We just have to walk to the bus stop! We leave in...," she paused to look at her phone, and her eyes promptly widened with panic. "Thirty-nine seconds ago! _We're late!_ "

She bolted for the door, grabbing Sunset's hand on the way and dragging her along behind her.

Despite Twilight's fear to the contrary, the two girls made it to the bus stop on foot with time to spare.

"What's the big rush, anyway?" Sunset asked while they caught their breath. "The store isn't going anywhere, y'know."

"True," Twilight admitted, "but I'd prefer that we get there before the lunch rush. Fewer customers besides us plus more items in stock equals an easier time purchasing what I need to finish the magic detector."

"If you say so," Sunset said with a small shrug.

The bus pulled up a few moments later, and the two girls boarded to find it nearly empty. "Another benefit of leaving this early is that we avoid this route's second morning rush," Twilight explained as they took their seats next to each other, Twilight by the window and Sunset by the aisle. "This way we can share our preliminary information in relative privacy."

Sunset smiled. "You really think of everything, don't you?"

"W-well, not _everything_ ," Twilight answered with a blush, looking away to hide it under the pretense of adjusting her glasses. "I usually only consider events that have at least a 5% chance of occurring," she explained. "Otherwise I tend not to get anything done."

Sunset laughed. "I can imagine. So, I don't think you ever told me how your talk with Cadance went."

Twilight's blush spread rapidly, and she stiffened in her seat. "R-right. That. A-about Timber!"

"Yeah, about Timber," Sunset repeated, looking at her warily. "You _did_ talk to her, right?"

"Yes!" Twilight replied, affronted. "Of course I did! It's just...just..." She looked away again, rubbing her arm.

"Just what?"

Twilight sighed. "Just...nothing," she said with a vague hand gesture. "She said it was okay if my crush was over, it just meant that me and Timber weren't meant to be together. She also said that I should just take some time to think over why I was crushing on him in the first place and why it's no longer the case, and then just...explain it to him when I get the chance. She said that if he's really as great a guy as I've been saying, then he should understand."

"Hey, sounds like a good idea to me," Sunset said with another shrug. "Any idea what changed that made you lose your spark?"

And just like that, Twilight froze up again. "W-well, it's not that I _haven't_ thought about it," she said quickly, mashing her fingers together, "although _obviously_ my viewpoint is inherently _biased_ and therefore not entirely _trustworthy_ , but then again introspection _is_ meant to be entirely personal, so..."

"I'll take that as a no," Sunset deadpanned.

"That's probably a good idea," Twilight sighed. Her cheer returned moments later, though her smile was slightly awkward. "So! How about we change subjects?"

"Sure, I guess I can summarize some things for you," Sunset said. "What do you wanna know first?"

Both girls went silent as Twilight quickly looked around, verifying that they weren't being listened in on. "I'd like to know the findings from your previous experiments first," she said at a whisper. "They're more relevant to our current overall goal, after all."

"Right," Sunset nodded, leaning back in her seat. "Well, like I told you before, all I was able to figure out is that the magic of this world doesn't obey _any_ known law of Equestrian magic. To be honest, I'm not sure it obeys any laws at all! Even back then, I wasn't able to figure out any consistencies between the girls besides the fact that playing their instruments was the only way they could pony up. But now even _that's_ changed, and I can't even _begin_ to imagine how our _geodes_ factor into everything – much less how to _quantify_ any of it."

"Hmm, I can see why you'd want help," Twilight said, hand to her mouth in thought. "There clearly has to be _something_ consistent about the magical energy we put out, otherwise I never would have been able to build a detector for it in the first place. But it sounds like we're going to have to figure out everything from the ground up..." Something occurred to her just then, and a wide grin soon formed on her lips. "Ooh, we get to be the pioneers of an entirely new field! This is so _exciting!_ "

Sunset couldn't help but laugh. "Hey, I'm glad you found a bright side to all of this. Asking you for help with this was the best decision I've made in a while."

"I'll say!" Twilight said eagerly, blushing in embarrassment once she realized her faux pas. "I mean, not that you don't usually _make_ good decisions, of course, just that this one was _clearly_ in the top percentile of decisions you've made _recently!_ "

"Haha, I know, Twilight. I know."

The two spent the rest of the bus ride talking about their study with newfound excitement tempered only by their caution about discussing magic so openly. Observations were discussed, hypotheses proposed and debated, and the first simple tests were planned out. But before they realized it they were forced to put their conversation on hold, as the bus had arrived at Twilight's predetermined stop. With the final leg of their journey to the hardware store passing through more crowded sidewalks, they kept to smalltalk and vague plans for the summer outside of their research projects.

"Here we are!" Twilight said with a happy little smile when she and Sunset had finally reached the front door to Canterlot Hardware. "Though I suppose it's unnecessary to point that out, isn't it," Twilight added with a hint of embarrassment just a few moments after.

"Just a little," Sunset told her, looking amused as she pushed open the door bearing the store's name in big block letters.

A bell rang, alerting the single cashier standing at the counter to their left – an old man with white hair and pale green skin, who put down the newspaper he'd been reading. "Ahh, good morning Miss Sparkle," he greeted. "Another project, I assume?"

"That's right!" Twilight beamed.

"Good, good, I'll trust you to find what you need, then," he said, resuming his reading.

Twilight took the lead as they headed through the store, grabbing a basket and making a beeline for the electronics section with Sunset right behind her. "So, what is it you're looking for exactly?" Sunset asked, idly looking at the wares for sale on the aisles they were passing through.

"Oh, nothing much," Twilight answered. "A few pieces of casing, some LEDs for the display, microchips, that sort of thing. I still have most of the materials I used for the previous model and its prototypes, but there are a few critical components that I'll have to scavenge from other devices since the ones I used were broken in the," she paused for a moment as a sheepish look passed over her face, "ahem, 'incident'..."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Sunset said, just as sheepish as Twilight was. "Throwing your detector on the ground seemed like a good idea at the time."

"It's okay!" Twilight quickly told her. "It's not like it was _completely_ obliterated by the impact and resulting explosion!" She held her now-forced smile for only a few moments before sagging her shoulders and saying "Only _mostly_ obliterated..."

Sunset winced, then after a moment of hesitation gave Twilight a pat on the shoulder. "At...least it'll be easy to build the second time around?" she offered with a smile that wasn't entirely reassuring.

"Easier, actually," Twilight said, turning the bulk of her attention to perusing the shelves of electronic parts and devices. "Since it's not like I have to worry about building a specialized capacitor or contracting lead poisoning from the interior lining of the device. In fact," she thought aloud, tapping a finger against her chin, "I don't even have to worry about getting everything to fit into a clam-shell design at all! That'll give me 50% more room to work with!" Grinning excitedly, she swiped several items off the shelves in quick succession. "There's so many upgrades I can make if I don't have to worry about containment! Why didn't I realize this before?!"

"Better late than never," Sunset said with a smile. She watched Twilight grab more and more components, then pointed a thumb back towards the front of the store. "I'll just go get another basket for you..."

* * *

Both baskets were filled past the brim by the time Twilight was finally ready to check out. "Uggh, I thought you said you weren't looking for much?" Sunset groaned under the weight of the basket she was carrying.

"I wasn't!" Twilight said, similarly struggling with her burden of electronics. "But I couldn't help myself!"

"You know we have to carry all this back to your house, right?"

"I know! I'm sorry! But I really do need all of it! And we'll be on the bus most of the way!"

Sunset sighed, setting down her basket on the checkout counter once they'd reached it. "Fine, fine, I get it. Things like what we're gonna be doing require a lot of equipment."

"Certainly is a lot of it, though, "the old cashier remarked as he scanned item after item. "Not that I'm complaining of course, Miss Sparkle," he added with a light chuckle.

"Not to be nosy or anything, but how exactly are you paying for all this?" Sunset asked after watching a few expensive-looking items get scanned.

Twilight responded with a brief look of surprise and confusion. "Huh? Oh, well, I've been saving up my allowance for a few months now for a project like this. It's really not that big a deal."

"...if you say so," Sunset said, casting her friend an uncertain glance as she pulled out a card and paid for their haul with a smile.

With a satisfied sigh, Twilight stowed her card and looked at the time on her phone. "Okay, if we hurry we should be able to catch the next bus," she told her partner.

"Let's get going, then," Sunset replied, picking up half of their double-bagged purchase. Twilight picked up the other half, and the girls made a beeline for the exit.

They paused when they saw another group opening the door, and more importantly saw who that group consisted of.

"Oh, hey Sunset! Hey Twilight!"

"What're you two doing here?"

"Buying hardware, obviously."

"Well _duh_. But what're they buying it _for?_ "

"They _do_ got a lot of it..."

"Eeeyup."

"Hey girls," Sunset greeted the Crusaders with a smile, stepping to the side to let them and their escort enter the store. "Hey Big Mac."

"Yes, hi," Twilight added. "All this is actually just materials for a research project I'm helping Sunset with," she explained. "We actually have a bus to catch, though, so maybe we could talk-"

"Ooh, what _kind_ of research project?" Apple Bloom asked excitedly, peeking into their bags. "Anything we could help with?"

"I don't know," Sweetie Belle said, casting an apprehensive gaze at the electronics in one of Sunset's bags. "This stuff looks a little too advanced for us..."

"Pfft, we can handle it," Scootaloo scoffed, waving her hand dismissively as she joined Apple Bloom in rooting through Twilight's bags despite their owner's visible discomfort. "We can do _anything_ if we put our minds to it!"

"Yeah!" Apple Bloom chorused.

"Good point," Sweetie said, her smile growing as she looked more intently at what was in the bags. "Hey, maybe we should try being Crusaders for Science again after we're done being Crusaders for Justice?"

"That's a _great_ idea!" Scootaloo said.

"Yeah!" Apple Bloom chorused, again.

"Uhh...I'm sorry?" Twilight asked, giving the girls a confused look. "Did I hear you right? You're Crusaders for Justice?"

"Sure are!" Apple Bloom said.

"Yeah, today we're going around fighting bad guys and helping people, just like Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo said, striking a karate stance.

"Well, more like Mare-Do-Well," Sweetie Belle corrected. "I don't think Rainbow Dash has been all that active as a superhero yet."

"Hey!" Scootaloo protested despite her lack of counterargument.

"Well, regardless, we're gonna be tryin' our _own_ hands at the hero business," Apple Bloom said. Then Big Mac crossed his arms and caught her eye with a stern look, prompting her to sheepishly add "Uhh, at least as far as we can do so, err, responsibly. Y'know, helpin' old ladies cross the street and the like."

Her brother nodded approvingly, but Scootaloo crossed her arms and sputtered. "So just the _boring_ stuff..."

"Yes, well, we'll just leave you to it then," Twilight said, putting on a forced and frantic smile as she hooked her arm around Sunset's. "But we _really_ must be going now, so...goodbye!"

She immediately started pulling Sunset towards the exit and out the door. "Later, guys!" Sunset called out behind her, the other four waving her off. "You keep an eye on them, Big Mac!" She stopped just outside the doorway, adding "And if you see Rainbow Dash, tell her not to be so aggres-SIVE!" before Twilight finally yanked her away.

Big Mac watched them leave with stoic silence, then nodded and said "Eeyup."

* * *

"We're gonna be late, we're gonna be late!" Twilight said to herself in a panic, running as fast as she could down the sidewalk with Sunset just a step behind her. They turned the final corner only to see the bus at the bus stop, a blue-skinned man in a business suit stepping onto it. "Wait for us!" Twilight called out, stretching out a hand towards it, but it was in vain – the bus drove off before the girls reached the stop. "We...we were _late_...!" Twilight moaned, nearly doubled over as she tried to catch her breath.

"I'm so sorry, Twilight," Sunset said, putting a hand on her back. "This is all my fault. I shouldn't have kept talking to the others."

Twilight sighed, still slouched over. "No...it's alright...," she said halfheartedly. "It won't be _too_ long before the next bus comes..."

Sunset frowned. "Maybe, but I know how important punctuality is to you. Let me...make it up to you," she said, quickly looking around for something.

"Can you turn back time with magic so we can catch the bus?" Twilight asked quickly and excitedly, catching Sunset off guard.

"Uhh, no?" Sunset answered, evoking a frown from her friend. "I was thinking something more along the lines of buying you something to eat while we wait," she said, pointing to a corner store not too far away.

"Something to eat? Now?" Twilight asked, stunned. "B-but it's not time for lunch yet! And it's too soon after breakfast! Not to mention the fact that they don't allow eating on the bus, and-"

Sunset cut her off with a smile and a light laugh. "Relax! Just...think of it as a light brunch," she said. "Just a little snack to take your mind off being late. You can eat a little now, and save the rest for later!"

"Well...if you really think it'll help me feel better...," Twilight said, still looking uncertain as she sat down on the bench next to the bus stop.

"Cool," Sunset smiled, setting her half of the bags down next to Twilight. "Anything in particular that you'd like?"

"Suzy Starshine's Chocolate-Raspberry Constellation Cakes," she answered without hesitation. "I-I mean," she quickly backpedaled, " _obviously_ any flavor is fine, it's not like I have a-a _chart_ ranking all of them according to my personal taste preferences or anything..." She put on an awkward smile with matching laugh.

Sunset smiled and rolled her eyes. "Chocolate-raspberry it is," she said, turning towards the shop. "I'll be right back," she added, looking back at Twilight and winking.

"R-right," Twilight replied, left alone clutching her bags with a blush once more on her face. For a few minutes she simply sat there, drumming her fingers and humming tunelessly as she waited, until one of the passersby stopped at the bus schedule that was posted at the stop. She looked to be around Twilight's age, with light pink-purple skin and short, straight purple hair streaked with aquamarine. She was dressed for casual comfort, a pair of slightly-torn old jeans with a slightly frilly blouse a few shades darker than her skin.

"Hmm...," she murmured as she looked over the schedule, tapping her chin as she thought. After a few more seconds she sighed irritably, then turned around to face Twilight. "Excuse me," she opened with a less-than-genuine smile. "I'm new in town, and I could use some help getting around. Do you know if I can take this bus to the library?"

"The library?" Twilight repeated, standing up and moving closer. "Oh no, at least not directly. You'll have to take this bus to 4th street, then catch the 45," she explained as she pointed out the stop on the route map attached to the schedule. "That'll take you to the library."

"Rrriiiight...," the other girl said, eyes fixed on the map as she took the instructions in. "Thanks."

"No problem!" Twilight smiled, clasping her hands behind her back. "It's not every day I meet someone who's trying to find the library."

"Well...you know what they say, knowledge is power!" the other girl said with an awkward smile, the corner of her eye twitching under Twilight's eager gaze.

And she seemed just plain startled when Twilight held out her hand. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. I'm too busy today to show you around the entire city, but I'll be glad to answer any questions you have while we're on the bus!"

The other girl's eyes darted from her hand to her face a few times before she hesitantly shook it – but only for a few moments, dropping it like something slimy. "Thanks...," she said. "I'm, uhh, Amethyst Shine."

"Nice to meet you, Amethyst!" Twilight said, beaming obliviously.

"Yeah, nice to meet you too..." Amethyst replied, halfhearted and without quite making eye contact.

It was then that Sunset finally made her return, attention on the two packages of snack cakes she was holding. "Sorry, Twilight, they were out of the chocolate-raspberry kind so I just got you a chocolate _and_ a raspberry. I hope that's okay."

"It is," Twilight answered. "Thank you, Sunset."

Sunset finally looked up, and noticed the new girl staring at her in utter disbelief. "Uhh, who's your new friend?"

"Oh, this is Amethyst Shine," Twilight said, still smiling brightly. "She wanted to know how to get to the library and I helped her! Isn't that great?"

"Uh, yeah," Sunset replied, taken aback by Amethyst's continued gawking.

A split-second of silence passed before something occurred to Twilight. "Oh! Right! Sorry, Amethyst," she told the new girl with a laugh, "where are my manners? This is-"

" _Sunset?!_ " Amethyst blurted out, immediately realizing what she'd said and slapping both hands over her mouth.

Sunset and Twilight shared a confused look. "Uh...do I...know you?" the former asked.

Amethyst slowly removed her hands to reveal an awkwardly forced smile. "N-no! Of course not, we've never met before in our _lives!_ " she answered with a laugh. "I just...thought you were someone else! Sorry," she added quickly, putting her hands behind her back and taking a slinking step backwards. "IjustrememberedIhavesomewhereelsetobe, bye!"

She turned and ran the way she'd come from without a second thought.

"Well...that was odd," Twilight said after a moment of staring.

"I'll say," Sunset added. "Have you ever seen her before, cause I know for a _fact_ that she doesn't go to CHS."

"Well I don't remember her from Crystal Prep, though I _did_ spend most of the time there in my lab," Twilight admitted.

"She recognized _me_ , though," Sunset said with a thoughtful frown, "so I don't think she goes there either. And she knew my name, too..." And then, all at once, both girls' eyes widened in realization.

"You don't think..." Twilight asked, trailing off hesitantly.

"That she knows the other me?" Sunset finished. "I'm not sure, but I intend to find out." With new-found determination she narrowed her eyes, thrust the snack cakes into her friend's hands, and took off running after Amethyst.

Now beginning to panic, Twilight dithered in place for a few moments as she looked from Sunset to the bags of parts on the bus stop bench. With a grimace she darted over and stuffed her snack cakes into one of them, then lifted all four despite their weight and started chasing after. "Sunset, wait for me!"

Sunset barely heard her, too focused on keeping track of the girl in front while dodging and weaving through the morning foot-traffic. At first it seemed like fortune was favoring her, as Amethyst seemed to have slowed her pace to a fast walk. That changed, however, when she cast a nervous glance over her shoulder and saw her pursuer. Letting out a startled cry she resumed running, leaving a trail of irate pedestrians in her wake as she barged past them to flee from Sunset.

Eventually Amethyst ducked into an alleyway between a pizzeria and a book store, and Sunset smiled. While she may not be familiar with every alley in the city, she _did_ know that they weren't usually easy places to navigate. Whether they were ponies or humans, it was surprising just how much a person could cram into a small place.

She turned into the alley fully expecting to see Amethyst tripped over a garbage can, or tangled up with some hapless person using the alley for something else, or even just cornered at a dead-end.

Instead, she just saw the dead-end. No Amethyst Shine, or anybody else. No ladders to have climbed, doors to have entered, or even so much as a bag to hide behind. Just an empty alleyway. "What?! Where'd she go?!" Sunset exclaimed, eyes wide as she dashed into the alley and looked frantically for any nook or cranny she might have missed.

She spent minutes on her fruitless search before Twilight Sparkle finally arrived, almost entirely out of breath. "What," she panted, "happened?"

"I don't know!" Sunset replied, eyes wild as she paced the narrow space. "I _swear_ she came down here, but then it's like she just... _disappeared!_ "

"Disappeared? Do you think," she quickly looked around, then lowered her voice, "do you think maybe she used _magic?_ "

Sunset was silent for a moment, gripping her hair as she thought. "I don't know, maybe?" she finally said. "I mean, I didn't _feel_ any magic being used, but what else could it be?"

"I...wish I had the answer to that," Twilight said with a frown.

Sunset sighed, leaning against a wall. "Well, _however_ she escaped, Amethyst Shine is pretty suspicious. We need to keep an eye out for her from now on."

"Do you think we should tell the others about her?" Twilight asked. "If nothing else, they should be able to approach her without scaring her off. I don't think she'll want to talk to us if we see her again."

"Yeah, good idea," Sunset said after a moment, her mind racing. "But not right now, I'd prefer it if we _didn't_ miss the bus again."

Silence passed between the two girls for a moment before they stiffened with horror and looked at each other. " _The bus!_ " they exclaimed, immediately dashing out of the alley at top speed to make a break for the bus stop, Sunset taking half the bags from Twilight as they went.


	3. Chapter 3 -The Apple and the Jewel

**Author's Note**

Welcome back! As I mentioned last time, this chapter follows Rarity and Applejack through their morning together, and I think I've cooked up something quite cute and romantic and all that other good stuff. Let me know what you think!

Next chapter will feature Rainbow Dash and the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well.

\- Fangren

* * *

 **Chapter 3 – The Apple and the Jewel**

The oven timer dinged, and a few seconds later Applejack pulled the fresh batch of apple fritters from inside. She took in a deep breath, savoring their smell, and with a satisfied smile put the tray down on the stove.

"Mm-mm, they sure do smell like a fine batch 'a fritters!" Granny Smith remarked, leaning past her granddaughter to get a whiff for herself.

"Thanks, Granny," Applejack said, getting ready to move the fritters to a proper cooling rack.

"I bet that _girlfriend_ a'yers'll like 'em too!"

Applejack flushed. " _Granny!_ "

Granny Smith just laughed. "C'mon, Applejack, it's what y'all are, ain't it? Ain't no one else around, so why ya still tryin' to hide it?"

"I know," Applejack sighed as she begun the transfer from tray to rack. "I'm just tryin' to be careful is all. Rarity's dead-set on keepin' us a secret for some reason, and even though I don't agree with her I promised I'd go along with it. I don't wanna ruin things between us when they've barely had a chance to start."

Granny Smith nodded solemnly. "Yeah, I getcha. Secret love, eh? Kinda reminds me of..." She trailed off there, looking like she'd become lost in a well of sad thoughts.

"Reminds you of what?" Applejack asked, snapping her grandmother out of her trance.

"Oh, uh, er, never you mind that now, Applejack," she said quickly. "Why don't ya go keep look-out for yer girlfriend while I finish packin' the fritters?"

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "But the fritters won't be cool enough to pack for a little while longer," she said.

"Good! More time for you to think about yer girl, then," Granny said, now pushing Applejack out of the kitchen. "What did you say her name was again?"

"Rarity, but-"

"Rarity?" Granny Smith repeated, blinking in confusion as she and Applejack stopped in the front hall. She put a finger across her chin, and furrowed her brow in thought. "Rarity...ain't she the one with the fancy clothes and that high-falutin' accent?"

"It...it ain't _high-falutin'_ ," Applejack stammered, "it's just how she is! I know she's practically from a different world than we are and probably never got her hands dirty in her life, but that don't mean she doesn't work just as hard as we do. She's a generous and thoughtful person, and I'm _proud_ to call her my girlfriend."

Granny Smith gave her a good, long look before saying "You've been holdin' that in for awhile now, ain'tcha?"

"...yup," Applejack admitted, slumping her shoulders. "I know I'm gonna get a lotta questions about what I see in her and the like once we finally come out about our relationship, so I've been thinkin' about what to say in advance."

Granny Smith laughed. "Didn't expect that from ya, but I guess yer just _full_ 'a surprises now."

"I guess I am," Applejack replied, hands on her hips and looking sternly at Granny Smith.

She just laughed again, then turned back towards the kitchen. "Well, I'll just leave ya to her then. If I were you, I'd take a shower. Don't wanna be smellin' like the pigs on yer date, do ya?"

Applejack froze, then cautiously sniffed her armpit. "Good point," she said, turning towards the stairs.

"I'll just pack up the fritters when they're cool, then," Granny told her.

"Thanks," came the reply. Then, a few seconds later, she added "And don't think I forgot about you said earlier just because you changed the subject!"

Granny Smith froze in place, and shot an anxious look backwards as her granddaughter disappeared up the stairs.

* * *

The morning was warm and sunny, but with a pleasant breeze that managed to stir up just enough dust to make Rarity nervous. She didn't want to risk dirtying her outfit, of course; both her hat and her sundress were luxuriously white with exquisite lavender trim and tie, and it was all _far_ too important to be damaged before her date actually began. Once she and her paramour had gotten into the proverbial swing of things, perhaps, but not now.

It was almost enough to make her consider closing the roof on her convertible. Not _quite_ enough, as Rarity wanted to have a certain windswept look when she showed up on her darling Applejack's front doorstep, but almost. And she was practically at Sweet Apple Acres already, so there was little point in putting the roof up now.

Instead, she simply consigned herself to sighing blissfully and thinking of all the wonderful things she had planned for that day. Again. First, they'd take a nice boat on the lake at Queen's Park, followed by a lovely lunch at a nearby café with an absolutely splendid view from its veranda. Then a gentle stroll through the nicer parts of downtown Canterlot before they caught a movie at the theatre – Applejack's choice, of course. Then they'd play it by ear afterward and just enjoy themselves in the moment before their 7 o'clock reservation at the Savoury Select. It wasn't the highest-class restaurant in the city, true, but it was still an excellent choice for a first date. And it wasn't like they would be dressed up enough for the highest-class anyways, not after spending the day together.

And then, after dinner...she shivered in delight just thinking about it.

All in all, Rarity knew it was going to be a perfect day. Some girls might think it was a little too much for one date, but Rarity was of the firm belief that first dates should be memorable. And besides, her and Applejack led busy lives, so she felt she _had_ to get as many dates in at one time as she could. Who knew when they'd be able to go out again without fear of being seen?

Rarity sighed again, though a little less blissfully. Now wasn't the time to think of such things, she decided. She didn't want to sour her mood, and Sweet Apple Acres was now in sight.

She marveled at the rows and rows of trees she was driving past; she'd seen them all before, of course, and the fruits weren't exactly showy yet, but the orchard took on a whole new context in the light of her love. This was Applejack's _home_ , her _life_ ; why, she may very well have been working with these very trees only hours ago! She could just imagine her, walking down the rows of trees in her work duds, carrying everything she needed with her magical and marvelous super strength, wiping the sweat from her brow, admiring her handiwork...it was enough to make Rarity's insides flutter.

And then she was there. She'd almost missed it, lost in her daydream as she was, but she managed to slow down in time and turn into the driveway. She laughed nervously upon realizing the disaster she'd just barely averted. But she parked her car and took a deep breath to calm herself, even allowing herself a moment to admire the Apple family farmhouse before tending to the much more important duty of double-checking her appearance down to the last detail, including the magical geode hanging around her neck like a mundane (though gorgeous) necklace.

It was all absolutely perfect, and she gave her mirror a wink and a kiss before folding the compact and tucking it in her purse. One last adjustment of her hat and dress, and she was walking up to the front door.

She knocked on it thrice. "Hellooo, Applejack, I'm here~!" she called out in a light, singsong voice. The door opened immediately.

"Howdy," Applejack greeted, tipping her hat as she leaned against the open door and smiled. Gone were her work duds, replaced by the same apple-print top and belt Rarity had made for her at Camp Everfree paired with longer and plainer denim shorts than what the outfit had originally included. Much like Rarity's, her brilliant orange geode hung around her neck. She winked, and redness threatened to take over the entirety of Rarity's alabaster skin. Applejack chuckled. "You're lookin' mighty fine this morning, Rarity. Why don't ya come on in and sit a spell?"

She offered her hand, and Rarity took it in a daze. "I-I'd love to, Applejack," she said, stepping inside at Applejack's lead. "And I must say you look quite fetching yourself," she added, recovering just enough of her composure to admire her lover once more.

Applejack chuckled again. "Yeah, I gathered as much. So, everythin' still good on your end for today? No problems with that plan 'a yours?"

"Oh no, everything is quite in order," Rarity answered promptly and with pride. "I have done everything in my power to ensure that today it absolutely _perfect_. I trust you have as well?"

"Sure have, sugarcube," Applejack replied, leading her towards the kitchen. "All I gotta do is grab the fritters and we'll be good to go."

"Hold yer horses, I got yer fritters here all wrapped up and ready to go," came the voice of Granny Smith, the woman herself standing up from the table she'd been washing mason jars at and handing Applejack a plastic container.

"Oh! Granny Smith!" Rarity said, suddenly nervous. "I didn't realize you were...around!"

Granny snorted. "Where else would I be? It's my farm! And I ain't dead yet!"

"O-of course," Rarity stammered, "I...simply meant that I wasn't expecting you to be...here! In the kitchen!"

She put on a wide smile under Granny Smith's piercing gaze. "Hrmm...can't say I understand what mah granddaughter sees in you, but I ain't gonna interfere neither. You two have a good day, y'hear?"

Now Applejack became nervous, though Rarity was too focused on the elder Apple to notice. "I...I don't think I quite catch your meaning, Granny Smith. Applejack and I are simply...two good friends, who are going out on a spa date-ah, spa _day_ , together, and nothing more!"

Granny raised a brow and snorted. "Yeah, and them fritters Applejack made specially fer the two of you are just spa food."

"But of course!" Rarity answered quickly, oblivious to her love's frantic but silent attempts to get her grandmother to stop talking. "What else would they be for?"

"Treats fer the secret date the two of ya are goin' on," Granny Smith answered without hesitation.

Rarity's forced smile dropped into a heavy frown, and she turned her head towards her girlfriend. "Applejack," she said sweetly enough to make the girl flinch, "you didn't happen to tell your grandmother our _secret_ , did you?"

"I-I didn't mean to!" Applejack said quickly. "She just wrangled it outta me, I swear!"

"I believe you," Rarity said to Applejack's momentary relief, "but I'm still mad. Why did you let this happen? You _know_ how much it means to me that we keep this secret. If you can't keep it from your grandmother, how do I know you'll be able to keep it from the others? Especially Pinkie Pie?"

Applejack sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I know, Rarity. This is part 'a why I didn't wanna keep it from folks to begin with. I just ain't good at hidin' this sort 'a thing! We're lucky nobody figured it out before today!"

"I'll say," Rarity huffed.

"Now hold on just a minute," Granny interrupted, fixing a scowl on – and wagging a finger at – Rarity. "I get that you don't wanna make yerselves public yet fer whatever reason. But I ain't gonna let ya get mad at Applejack just fer havin' a granny that knows her well! It ain't proper."

She and Rarity glared at one another for a moment before the younger woman relented. "Yes, I understand." She sighed. "Please forgive me, Applejack, I've simply been too stressed out about the possibility of things ending badly for us if word gets out. But I don't want to sour our first real date by making this _particular_ incident into a bigger deal than it really is."

"Aww, don't worry darlin'," Applejack told her with a soft smile, taking Rarity's hand in her own. "And I promise I'll do better to keep our secret, _especially_ from Pinkie Pie."

"Thank you, Applejack," Rarity replied, returning the smile. She soon swelled with excitement, however, and said "Well then, let's get going! We have a big day ahead, and we don't want to be late for any of it."

Applejack chuckled. "Sure thing, darlin'."

The two left hand-in-hand shortly after, leaving Granny Smith to smile and shake her head as she resumed her jar-cleaning.

* * *

"So...," Applejack began, holding her hat to her head as she and Rarity drove away from Sweet Apple Acres. "We really goin' to the spa? I mean, not that I mind or nothin', its just that we did that before we were datin' too."

"Oh, haha, oh _my_ no," Rarity laughed. "That was just a story I told your dear grandmother. You know how much I enjoy our trips to the spa, but they're a bit too _mundane_ to be first date material. I want this day to be _memorable_."

Applejack chuckled at the sudden, wild intensity in her girlfriend's eyes. "Well, that suits me just fine. Though to be honest, after how much we've been lookin' forward to today, I reckon that it bein' our first date is memorable enough, no matter _what_ happens."

"Hmm," Rarity said, lips pursed in thought, "perhaps. But that _hardly_ means we should just settle for _any_ old thing." Her mouth curled into a sly little smile. "And believe you me, what I have planned is _hardly_ any old thing!"

Applejack raised a brow, smile matching smile. "So you gonna tell me what this plan 'a yours _is_ , or are ya just gonna leave it a surprise?"

Rarity's smile widened. "Oh, you'll just have to wait and find out!" She pressed down on the gas, and the two girls whooped and laughed as they sped down the road without a care in the world.

* * *

Soon enough they were driving through the city proper, passing by residential districts and heading towards downtown. "Let's see, it's too early in the mornin' for lunch," Applejack guessed, looking around at the buildings they were passing. "And shoppin' ain't exactly romantic, so we're obviously not doin' that either. You don't got anythin' planned for us at your place, do ya?"

"Of course not!" Rarity answered, a blush forming on her cheeks. "As though I'd expect to get any _romance_ out of my _parent's_ house. Besides, it's _far_ too early in our relationship for me to be bringing you _home_..."

The implication in her voice was enough to make Applejack flush as well. "Aheheh, yeah, I guess it is," she said bashfully.

They came to a stop at a red light, and to their surprise they began to hear the din of barking dogs. Turning their heads to the right, they saw a pack approaching down the sidewalk – at least ten of them in all manner of size and breed, all harnessed and leashed. They were being walked by, or at least dragging along behind them, a tall gray-skinned old man dressed so oddly it made Rarity cringe just to look at him. Stained overalls, heavy boots, a white undershirt (long-sleeved despite the heat), and a tattered old top hat and cane. He seemed to be utterly delighted by the chaotic mass he was being pulled along by, the dogs playing with each other and investigating everything in their path, forcing other pedestrians to give them a wide berth lest they get swallowed up by the eager canine horde as one or two already had.

As they stepped into the crosswalk several of the dogs broke rank and barked or sniffed at Rarity's convertible, and her eyes were drawn to the old man. He looked back, and gave the girls a crooked smile and a short wave. "Don't mind us, ladies," he said in an oddly dignified voice. "Dogs will be dogs, you know, and who am I to stop them?" He shrugged as a retriever raised a hing leg and marked Rarity's front bumper to the girl's horror."You two just enjoy your day," the old man said, letting out a hooting laugh. He gave his tangle of leashes a sharp tug, and the mass of dogs continued along to the next interesting object in their path.

"...well, I guess they got all sorts in the city," Applejack commented, watching the man walk away.

"Hmph," Rarity sniffed, pressing down on the gas as the light turned green. "And he's the sort I'd do to never see again, thank you very much. His demeanor was almost as bad as his _fashion sense_."

Applejack stared a bit more at the departing man, then frowned and looked at Rarity. "Yeah, I think I know what ya mean. He seemed friendly enough on the outside, but..."

"...he _clearly_ seems to revel in making people uncomfortable," Rarity finished.

"Yeah, pretty much. Hopefully the city's big enough that we won't be runnin' into him again anytime soon. Seems like it'd be nothin' but trouble."

"Quite."

They continued on through downtown Canterlot, but their relative peace was short-lived. It was only a few minutes after they'd passed the old dog-walker when they heard a familiar-sounding "HEY!" that caused Rarity to brake out of panic alone, barely but thankfully avoiding an accident in the process.

"Oh no!" Rarity said, becoming rigid as she resumed driving. "Act natural!" she commanded through a forced smile.

"Uhh, I don't think that's gonna be necessary, strictly speakin'," Applejack told her, having turned around enough to look behind them. She watched as Rainbow Dash, fully powered-up, swooped down through the air above the building to their right, then looked ahead to see the woman her friend was chasing. As she expected it was a woman in a purple bodysuit jumping from rooftop to rooftop, her face covered by a mask and shadowed by her wide-brimmed fedora that somehow managed to stay tight on her head despite the speed with which she was moving. "I don't think Rainbow Dash has noticed us..."

"Yes, I suppose she hasn't," Rarity said, her relief drowned out by her surprise as she, too, looked away from the road for a moment to watch their chase.

Then, to the shocked gasps of them and all the other ground-bound onlookers, the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well jumped from the roof of a bagel shop into the air above the street itself. And as she did so she did a pirouette in mid-air, wrapping herself in her voluminous midnight blue cape and getting smaller and smaller as she spun faster and faster, disappearing into thin air before she'd even passed over three lanes.

"AAGH! Darn it, not again!" The lovers' attention was drawn once again to their friend, who'd stopped in mid-flight over the bagel shop and gripped her hair in frustration. "GET BACK HERE AND FACE ME!" she shouted, taking off like a shot to the left. Before traffic resumed a number of people scrambled across the road to follow her, snapping pictures as they went, and a motorcyclist in a black leather jacket tore past as well, swerving between cars and turning down the same road the photographers had taken.

Rarity and Applejack sighed at the same time, finally in motion again. "Honestly," Rarity frowned, "it seems like every day more and more people are chasing after her. It's a _miracle_ that nobody's been hurt!"

"Yeah," Applejack said with a shake of her head. "I swear, that girl's more obsessed than a hog on the scent 'a slop. I get that it's important to keep an eye on that Mare-Do-Well character, but why's Rainbow gotta be so _obvious_ about it?"

"She never _has_ been one for subtlety," Rarity said. "Although to be honest, the fact that she _hasn't_ noticed her own personal paparazzi is surprising."

Applejack's face fell even more. "And a blessin'. Last thing we need is Rainbow Dash realizin' she's a local celebrity."

Rarity laughed into her hand as they came to another red light. "Quite. She'd never get anything done again!"

"Yeah," Applejack chuckled, "either that or she'd start showboatin' to prove how much of a 'hero' she really is."

"Still," Rarity frowned as the light turned green, "I _do_ feel bad that none of us are helping her."

"Hey, I'll be glad to help once that Mare-Do-Well starts doin' somethin' more suspicious than runnin' away from folks," Applejack said, stretching her arms out behind her head, then adjusting the string of her geode necklace. "But fer now, I don't see much point in startin' trouble with the one other magic-user besides us that's actually doin' somethin' _good_ in the world."

"Hmm...point. But let's forget about that for now," she said, cracking a wide smile. "We're here!"

* * *

'Here' was none other than Queen's Park, the largest park in the city. It was an expanse of green too vast to take in all at once; too many gardens, lawns, and ponds to count all divided up by even more numerous pathways, plazas, and statues. There were people everywhere that lazy Saturday morning, jogging or playing or visiting one of the park's many attractions. Rarity parked her car as close to it as she could, rolling up the windows and putting up the roof to protect her precious convertible while they were away.

"Heheh, shoulda guessed it'd be here," Applejack chuckled as she unbuckled. "You want me to bring the fritters?" she asked, holding up the box.

Rarity tapped her chin in thought a bit before answering "No. I'd rather save those for this afternoon, unless you think they'll spoil if we leave them in the car."

"Naw, they'll be fine," Applejack said, leaning backwards to tuck the box under the back seat as best she could. Only then did she leave the car, her girlfriend joining her on the sidewalk in moments. "Y'know, I've lived near this city all my life, and I don't think I've seen half 'a Queen's Park," she said as they began to walk the block or so distance to the park entrance.

"Oh, me neither," Rarity said. "My parents took Sweetie and I here often when we were younger, of course, but we never really _explored_ it."

"So ya thought today would be a good chance to finally do so?" Applejack asked, cracking a smile.

"Perhaps," Rarity replied with a coy look, the two stepping into the final crosswalk before the park. "Don't get me wrong though, I do have a few _specific_ things in mind for our little outing this morning."

"Ya don't say?" The farmer lifted her hat, looking at her lover out of the corner of her eye. "Let me guess, they're holdin' some kinda _fashion show_ today or somethin'."

Rarity gave her a scalding pout. "Oh _honestly_ , Applejack," she said, giving the girl a light shove as she began to laugh. "You _know_ I care for more than just fashion. Besides," she turned her nose up aloofly and crossed her arms, eyes only just cracking open to show her amusement, "if it were up to _you_ I'm sure we'd only come here to attend some kind of...of _harvest festival_ or some such thing."

"A _harvest festival_ ," Applejack repeated, the corners of her lips twitching. "In _Queen's Park_."

"That's what I said!" Rarity answered defiantly, the couple now standing at the park's threshold.

Applejack just laughed and shook her head. "Well, I ain't gonna lie, I'd probably go if there was one. Just like _you'd_ go to a fashion show."

" _True_...," Rarity reluctantly conceded, not meeting her girlfriend's eyes.

"But none of that's the sorta thing I picture as first date material," Applejack continued. "And I reckon you feel the same way, don'tcha?"

"Of course!" Rarity replied, whipping her head back around. "Third or fourth date material, at the earliest."

Applejack chuckled, then offered her arm. "Then how 'bout you show me _exactly_ what you got in mind for first date material?"

Rarity beamed at her. "I'd love to," she answered, taking Applejack's arm and finally walking with her into the park.

The lovers spent a good half an hour simply strolling arm-in-arm down the park's main thoroughfare, enjoying the weather and each other. To their good fortune they did not come across anyone they knew or recognized from school, allowing both to relax and forget about their secret being blown. And eventually, they came upon their first destination within the park.

"The lake, huh? Can't say it's what I expected," Applejack said.

"Well," Rarity told her, moving her hand down to take Applejack's, "it _is_ a tad more private than simply strolling. Just the two of us, on a boat, in the middle of the lake..." She leaned against her partner, and sighed dreamily.

Applejack smiled. "Yeah, it sounds nice." The couple turned towards the boat rental shop sitting prominently on the shore, and as they approached they looked at the selection of vessels tied to the docks. "So, what kinda boat do you wanna get?" Applejack asked.

Rarity folded her arms and pursed her lips in thought. "Hmm...something we can sit _next_ to each other, I think. Or at least have the _option_ to do so."

"Soooo...no to the canoes, then," Applejack said, scratching her head. "That leaves us with the row boats, and..."

The gaze of both girls fell upon several large swan-shaped boats lined up in their own special section of the dock. "They _do_ seat two," Applejack said, looking at Rarity.

She gave an indignant gasp. "But...they're so...so...," she said, waving her free hand vaguely in the boats' direction as she tried to find the right word. " _Garish_ ," she decided on. "Besides, we'd have to _pedal_ , and let me tell you these are _not_ pedaling shoes." She thrust a hand down at her heels.

Applejack shrugged. "Still easier than rowin' I expect." She noticed Rarity's pout, and her face fell. "You wanted _me_ to do all the rowin', didn't ya?"

"Ha! Pft...w-well," Rarity sputtered, "you _are_ the stronger of the two of us after all. And I do so enjoy watching you partake in, ah, _physical_ activities," she added, letting go of Applejack's hand to lovingly stroke her muscular arm. "Plus...it _would_ be gentlemanly...," she said, coyly looking away for a moment before fluttering her eyelashes at her love.

"Well in case you haven't noticed, I'm a _lady_ , not a gentleman," Applejack countered with her hands on her hips.

"W-well _obviously_. I simply, ah..."

Applejack raised a brow.

"I simply...," she repeated, not meeting her girlfriend's gaze as she quickly thought. "Oh! Yes!" She raised a finger in realization. "I simply thought that such behavior would suit you," she said at last with a satisfied nod.

Applejack crossed her arms.

A wide, sheepish smile spread on Rarity's face. "Sorry," she said at barely more than a whisper.

Her girlfriend sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Look, had it come to it yeah, I woulda done the rowin'. But I don't like you just _expectin'_ me to do that sorta thing cause I'm more boyish than you or somethin'."

Rarity sighed and hung her head. "I do apologize for that, dear. But still," she met her girlfriend's gaze again, "rowing aside, it still stands that the swan boats are simply too...-" she looked back at the vessels in question- " _noticeable_ for my tastes."

"Rarity, you once wore a dress covered in flashin' lights to school for a _week_ cause you were scared that folks were ignorin' you."

"That was _different!_ " Rarity hissed, blushing furiously. "We were _freshmen_ , and I most certainly _wasn't_ in a secret relationship with one of my closest friends!"

It was then that a passing jogger swerved around them, the lavender-skinned man glaring at the girls stopped in the middle of the path. Rarity and Applejack just gave him bashful smiles in return, and hurried off to the side.

Rarity sighed, taking Applejack's hands in her own. "Look, darling, why don't you tell me why you _want_ to take the swan boat?"

"Well, aside from just not feelin' like rowin' after a mornin's worth of chores," the farmgirl answered, "I figure that even if the boat's easy to spot the two of us sittin' inside it won't be. It's got those nice high wings on the sides, plus a canopy. Whereas if we just go out on a regular ol' row boat, we'll be completely out in the open!"

Rarity stared blankly at her for a moment before bringing a finger to her chin. "Hmm...I didn't think of that..."

"Plus,"Applejack added with a playful smile, "they _do_ say that swan boats are s'pposed to be mighty romantic!"

"They _do_ say that, don't they..." She looked back over at the swan boats, then back at Applejack who smiled expectantly. "Ohhhh, fine, why not," she said, cracking a smile of her own. "Let's do it!"

"Sure thing, sugarcube," Applejack chuckled, and the two walked hand-in-hand to the rental counter.

* * *

"Alright, on the counta three," Applejack said, her Rarity now in their seats. "One! Two!"

"W-wait, Applejack, hold on," Rarity protested frantically, looking from her love to her feet which were very much not in pedaling position.

"Three! _Go!_ " Applejack continued unabated, even cracking a grin as she began to pedal furiously.

"Aah! Aah! Wait!" Rarity wailed, trying with all her might to keep up the pace and failing quite handily. Her efforts were only enough to get their boat clear of the dock by a few feet before it veered hard to starboard and kept going. "Applejack, slow down!" she whined, grabbing her girlfriend by the arm.

Applejack started laughing, but took her feet off the pedals just the same. "Sorry, sugarcube," she said, still grinning as Rarity's continued frantic pedaling steered the swan back towards the middle of the lake. "Just thought I'd have a bit of fun with you, I couldn't help myself!"

"Hmph," Rarity sniffed, crossing her arms looking away with a pout. She had stopped pedaling as well. " _Honestly_ , Applejack, you'd think I was dating a _child!_ "

"Heheheh. C'mon now, Rarity," Applejack said as she resumed pedaling at a much calmer pace, "I thought we were s'pposed to have fun together!"

"I'm sorry, but my definition of _'fun'_ does not include nearly crashing into a dock!" she replied, still determinedly not looking at her girlfriend but pedaling all the same.

Applejack's face fell. "Aww, shoot, I didn't mean it like that, Rarity," she said, putting a hand on Rarity's shoulder. "I'm sorry."

Instantly, Rarity whipped her head around to give Applejack a wide, devious grin. "I'm glad to hear that, dear," she said before her hand darted forward and pulled her girlfriend's hat down hard over her eyes. Then, cackling madly, she began to pedal backwards as fast as she could so that the swan boat began to spin.

"Wha-what the-" Applejack blurted out, fumbling with her hat for a moment before seeing the dizzying view in front of her. "Oh, is that how it's gonna be?" she said, giving her love a side-eyed glance as her smirk returned. "Well then, two can play at that game!" And with that she redoubled her own pedaling in the forward direction, so that their boat began to spin even faster. The two girls laughed and laughed as they made their swan spiral clockwise across the surface of the lake, attracting no small amount of attention from the people passing by in the park.

Eventually, Rarity slowed. "Ohh, oh, oh my," she said through her laughter, closing her eyes and putting a hand to her forehead. "We should stop before one of us loses our breakfast..."

Applejack stopped pedaling entirely, and the pair's laughter began to slow as their swan spun down to a gentle twirl. They ended their mirth with contented sighs, and slumped against one another. They were silent for a moment as their dizziness faded, then looked at each other and kissed.

* * *

Many enjoyable minutes later, the girls resumed paddling at a leisurely – and coordinated – pace. Hand in hand they looked out over the lake and took in its splendor – the sun reflecting off its surface; the schools of brightly-colored goldfish darting to and fro just below it; the way each gust of wind sent ripples across it; and how it seemed to draw all sorts of people and animals to its shores. For several minutes they didn't even speak; they didn't need to. They simply enjoyed each other's company.

Eventually, Applejack stretched her arms and sighed. "Sure was a fine idea to come out here," she told her girlfriend.

"But of course!" Rarity replied, puffing herself up with pride. "I _know_ romance, my dear. It's one of my _many_ passions in life." She gave her hair a flip, then batted her eyelashes.

Applejack chuckled. "Sure is, darlin'," she said. "Sure is..." She trailed off after that, her smile fading as her eyes wandered back ahead of them and promptly drifted off.

"Is something the matter, Applejack?" Rarity asked with a frown, leaning forward to get a better look at her lover's face.

"I'm just thinkin', is all," she answered.

"About what, may I ask?"

Applejack was silent for a good long moment before she finally said "About what's gonna happen to us." She turned her head and looked at Rarity. "When folks find out, I mean."

Rarity's face fell. "Oh." She leaned back in her seat, and after a few seconds she looked back at her girlfriend. "What happened to your confidence that everything would work out fine, and that our friends would accept our relationship without issue?"

"I still got it, but..." Applejack sighed, and put her hands behind her head as she looked up through the cloth canopy. "I don't know." She shook her head. "I guess ever since this mornin' it's been naggin' at the back of my mind more. And now that we're finally enjoyin' ourselves on a date, I realize that I really don't wanna screw this up. I mean," she raised a hand, "how are we even gonna _tell_ 'em?"

"Well, you told your grandmother just fine, didn't you?" Rarity asked, concern in her voice as she turned her body back towards Applejack.

The farmer shook her head again. "Nah, like I tried to tell ya before, she figured it out on her own. But we still got the rest of our friends and family to tell, and I ain't sure anymore that just bein' straight with 'em is gonna be enough."

"Mm," Rarity murmured, taking Applejack's arm and leaning against her. "Now you understand how _I've_ been feeling about all this..."

Applejack smiled softly, leaning her head against Rarity's. "Well, like I said I still think the others'll be just fine with us bein' together. What I'm more worried about is the fuss they'll make when they find out."

Rarity quickly raised her hand to her mouth to stifle a giggle-snort. "True," she said, cracking a smile. "I doubt Pinkie Pie or even Rainbow Dash will be able to avoid making a scene, much _less_ keep quiet about it."

"Yeah," Applejack chuckled. "Heck, even _Twilight_ might get startled enough by it to blurt somethin' out to the whole world if we aren't careful."

"Which is why we'll need to tell them all _privately_ ," Rarity said. "Though of course I _do_ still wish to take things slowly with telling them. There's no need to rush," she closed her eyes and made a sweeping gesture with her hand, "we'll simply...enjoy our little secret for a little while longer, perhaps a _handful_ more of these clandestine dates, and then...," another sweeping gesture, "play it by ear when we're comfortable."

"Play it by ear, eh?" Applejack said, looking at her with a smile on her face. "Well, can't really argue with that I suppose." It was then that her stomach chose to rumble, surprising both girls. "Speakin' of playin' it by ear," she said. "You got anythin' in that plan 'a yours about lunch?"

Rarity's lips curled upwards in growing excitement. "Why, as a matter of fact I _do!_ "


	4. Chapter 4 - Awesome Adventures of RD 1

**Author's Note**

Almost forgot to update the story here...whoops. That's the trouble with posting a story on multiple sites, I suppose.

Oh well. This week I have the continuing tale of Rainbow Dash and the Mare-Do-Well, and I hope it excites you - I'll admit it's a bit slow at first, but trust me. It gets there.

Next chapter will focus on the Crusaders and Big McIntosh; it's a funner chapter than this one I think but they all have their own merits. I hope you all look forward to it, and enjoy what I have today.

\- Fangren

* * *

 **Chapter 4 – The Awesome Adventures of Rainbow Dash #1: The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well**

"Aargh! This doesn't make any _sense!_ "

Rainbow Dash was nearly at her limit, gripping her hair so hard she threatened to tear it out entirely. She was sitting cross-legged on the barren roof of some building in downtown Canterlot; she didn't know which one and at the moment she didn't particularly care. Only minutes ago she had lost her quarry yet again, this time in a dead-end alleyway from which there should have been no escape.

"I'm like the fastest person _ever_ ," she told herself, " _and_ I'm a super-good flyer. Even _with_ that teleportation trick she does, she shouldn't be getting away from me _every time!_ " She threw her arms up in frustration, then groaned and flopped backward onto the warm, hard roof. " _Daring Do_ wouldn't have this much trouble cornering a bad guy..."

She sighed and sat up, hand reaching into the messenger bag of essentials she was carrying – phone, binoculars, water bottle, snacks. She took out the bottle and squirted a bit into her mouth, then stowed it away again. "What would _she_ do in this situation..." Rainbow wondered, staring out at the city. "Probably do a bunch of _boring_ research," she said glumly, "then come up with an awesome foolproof plan. How am _I_ supposed to do any of _that?_ "

She took a deep breath then stood up. "Okay," she said as she began to pace, "maybe I should- no, that'll never work. But what if! No, I already _tried_ that!" She growled in frustration, tugging at her hair again. "Ah, screw it! I can't think like this anyway!" She jumped into the air without a second thought, her crystalline wings humming with magic as she flew off like a shot.

Rainbow Dash had always felt her best while she was moving. Sitting still was just too distracting, too constricting, too _boring_. She couldn't concentrate unless she was doing something, whether it was running or playing soccer or rocking out on her guitar. And, recently, it had come to include flying as well. She didn't know if it was her pony magic or just how she was as a person, but it felt _right_ in some way she didn't know how – or want – to describe. It had also been surprisingly challenging to get a hang of; her comic books never said she'd have to pay attention to the wind or where all the warm and cold air was. Or, for that matter, that it would be so tiring. Who knew that flexing muscles she only had thanks to magic would be such a workout?

But, eventually, she'd gotten the hang of it. And ever since she'd started looking for the Mare-Do-Well, she could swear she was getting a lot better at noticing stuff around her. Like the car she was flying over that had just run a red light. Or the people coming to their windows as she flew by. Or the group of people taking pictures of her. Sure, none of it was the Mare-Do-Well so she didn't pay _that_ much attention to it, but she still felt proud that her eyes had gotten so sharp.

"Hmm...okay..." she murmured as she flew over the city streets. "Mare-Do-Well usually turns up a couple times a day, or more when there's a crime." She turned left. "But she doesn't _stop_ all of them, so that means she probably doesn't _know_ about all of them..." She turned right. "She used to hang out on tall buildings but stopped doing that once I started tracking her down. But if she really does wanna fight crime, then she's gotta be able to find them _some_ how, right?"

Rainbow Dash stopped in mid-air, hovering above an intersection as she looked around the city. "So where's she staked out?" She crossed her arms and frowned. "Hmm...well, where do _I_ go when _I'm_ looking for a crime to stop?"

She came to a sudden stop in mid-air, the blush of an embarrassing realization creeping onto her face while the people following her below catching up to her and crowding the sidewalk as they vied for photos. "Okay," she admitted, "I should _probably_ start trying to do that if I'm really gonna be a superhero. But maybe if I figure out where _I'd_ go, I can figure out where _she_ goes..."

* * *

A few minutes later, Rainbow Dash was perched like a gargoyle on the roof of the tallest skyscraper in the city. She took a drink of water, then stowed the bottle. "Okay," she said to herself, "this probably looks _super_ cool from the right angle and all, but..." She looked down at the city streets below through her binoculars, adjusting the dials and frowning. "I can barely see _anything_ from up here, much less hear! Maybe I need to get a little lower..."

* * *

Another few minutes passed before she was standing flush to the wall on a narrow ledge around the outside of the clocktower. "Pass," she said, taking flight once more before the clock hand's struck 9:15.

* * *

"Better," she said from the roof of the 40th precinct of the Canterlot Police Department. "But I can still _barely_ see past the block!" She looked up and down the street again, but while she was able to see people okay – and see people seeing her okay as well – she couldn't actually see many buildings. She couldn't hear much, either, even with the light morning traffic whizzing past.

"Miss Dash!" The fact that she could actually make out the voice was enough to get Rainbow's attention, and after a moment of looking around she turned her gaze downward. There, standing just outside the precinct, was a woman with pale white skin and dark hair. She was wearing a suit, and had her hands cupped around her mouth.

"What?" Rainbow shouted back, trying to remember where she'd seen the woman before or at least why she knew her name.

"Please get down from there immediately!" the woman replied. "Unauthorized personnel are not allowed rooftop access!"

"What?" Rainbow repeated, more in confusion than anything else.

"You are not allowed up there!" the woman clarified, unfazed and emotionless.

Rainbow flinched. She knew she was on top of a police station, after all, and the last thing she wanted was to get in trouble with the law. "Sorry!" she called down to the woman. "I'll leave!"

She flew off immediately, leaving the woman to stare and her paparazzi to tiredly give chase.

"Okay, so, I think I can pretty much rule out tall buildings entirely," Rainbow said to herself as she turned left over another street. "So that means I gotta figure out some _other_ way to track down criminals."

She spent the next couple minutes just looking around again, but when she caught sight of a parked cop car she stopped. "Hold on," she said to herself, her expression brightening, "cops find criminals all the time! I can just follow one of them!" Excitedly, she landed on another rooftop and began to watch the car she'd spotted.

* * *

"Well, _this_ is boring," she said nearly half an hour later, her excitement having completely drained away. "All this guy's been _doing_ is hand out pointless tickets, and even that he's doing so _slowly_ I could do a lap around the city before he finishes each one!"

Rainbow Dash flopped backwards onto the roof she'd been sitting at the edge of, covered her eyes, and groaned in frustration. "So that means the cops are a bust too. At this point the only way I'm ever gonna be able to track down crimes is if I know where they're gonna happen _before_ they happen _!_ "

She went silent for a moment, then suddenly sat upright with a look of stunned realization on her face. "Hey, maybe _that's_ how the Mare-Do-Well does it!" she said. "Either her magic lets her see into the future or something, _or_ she's in _league_ with the criminals already-" her eyes widened- "and they just tell her where they're gonna rob so she can go and stop them!" She inhaled sharply and bolted to her feet. "That _devious_ little...!" She growled and rocketed back into the air, only coming to a sudden stop after she'd already flown a block.

"Crap," she muttered, palming her face. "I _still_ have no idea where to find her! All that thinking, and I'm right back where I started – flying around blindly hoping to see her." Rainbow Dash let out a long and resigned sigh, then dove back down to fly closer to street-level.

* * *

It was time. She could sense it. She'd been tracking the group of would-be robbers for nearly two days now, had watched them plan their heist in what they thought had been the utmost secrecy. But little did they know that the shadows were her greatest ally...

That and luck, but she had long believed that the truly powerful made their _own_ luck. And she herself was proof enough that the belief was well-founded.

She smiled behind her mask as she watched the three men pile into their ugly, nondescript getaway car. Soon, another game of cat and mouse would be over and won.

With a wave and a flourish she circled her cape around herself, and disappeared.

* * *

Rainbow Dash had done another complete fly-through of the city before she decided to stop for another rest. "Seriously," she muttered after taking a swig of water, "there _has_ to be a better way to do this. Something I'm _missing_. Why couldn't the girls have backed me up on this, I'm starting to think I can't do this alone. I mean," she put the cap back on her bottle, "spending half my day standing around random rooftops _talking_ to myself? How uncool is _that!_ "

She paused and looked around as though expecting a response, and her face fell when she didn't even get a gust of wind.

"Freaking _Mare-Do-Well_ , making me _look bad_ ," she muttered as she took out her binoculars and started scanning the streets below. "I better get _lucky_..."

She did.

"Yes! Finally found ya!" Rainbow Dash cheered to herself, tracking her rival as she raced through what she knew to be a long alleyway behind a row of buildings. Quickly she shoved her binoculars back into her bag, and in a mere fraction of a second she was jetting through the air on what she was sure was the perfect course for interception.

She flew into the last side-alley before the end of the block and came out at the end of the main alley, Mare-Do-Well headed right for her. "Gotcha!" she said in triumph as she locked eyes with the rogue, who quickly scrambled into another side-alley on her left. Rainbow Dash flew after her, even when she suddenly leaped directly upward. The rogue leaped from ledge to sill to whatever other purchase she could find with an otherworldly quickness, and soon her efforts landed her on the roof of a small boarding house. She didn't rest for even a second before she took off at top speed along the rooftops, not sparing a glance behind her when Rainbow Dash shot up into the open air.

"HEY!" Dash shouted before swooping back downward to give chase, uncaring of the small commotion her cry had caused – and largely ignorant of the presence of the two friends she'd caused it to. Her heart pounded faster and faster and her grin grew wide as she began to close in on her rival, the Mare-Do-Well approaching the end of the block fast but not fast enough.

And then, to Rainbow's shock, she turned and jumped into the street. Or, rather, the air above the street – she never landed, instead pirouetting in mid-air and disappearing into her cape.

"AAGH! Darn it, not again!" Rainbow cried in frustration, pulling at her hair for a moment before shooting off in the direction the Mare-Do-Well had turned. "GET BACK HERE AND FACE ME!"

* * *

She crouched down in the shadow of a dumpster, willing herself to go unseen. She knew it would only be a few minutes before her pursuer would move on from the area, none the wiser that she hadn't gone far. Were it any other day she'd have no qualms with leading that hot-headed simpleton on another chase and have her fun tricking her, but right now she had more important things to do. And the last thing she wanted was that obnoxious flying brick barging into things, getting in her way and stealing some or all of the glory for herself.

 _She_ had come up with the plan, and _she_ was going to reap its benefits. Nobody else. Only her.

Once she sensed the coast was clear, she crept silently out into the alley and started darting from one patch of darkness to the next. She made her way to a small alcove behind a drugstore that, she decided, had been created when a previous store had expanded into an adjacent building and had built a small corridor to connect the two. It afforded her a perfect vantage point of a small branch of the Republic Bank located just across the street.

She smiled to herself under her mask. All she had to do was wait for her prey to arrive and commence their robbery, then she would swoop in and stop them just as she'd planned. The only thing that could interfere was if that rainbow-colored pest showed up again, who might require more drastic measures to divert again.

But she wasn't worried. The truly powerful made their own luck, after all.

* * *

"Yup," Rainbow Dash grumbled as she flew over a street three blocks away from where she'd lasted seen her rival, "shoulda known. No way _I'd_ ever get a lucky break or anything. Guess it's back to the same old flyin' around..."

She sighed, and turned down a side street on impulse. As she looked to her left and right at all the dark alleys and gaps between buildings, an idea struck. "Come to think of it, she's been using the alleys a lot recently," she thought aloud. "Maybe instead of looking at them from up _here_ , I should be flying through them down _there_. I won't be able to see as much of the city," she reasoned, putting a hand on her chin, "but I probably wasn't gonna see her for a little while anyway. So what the heck?" she finished with a shrug, banking to the left and swooping into an alley she had picked at random.

Not too long afterward, a motorcyclist in a black leather jacket pulled up in front of the alley, paused for a moment to look into it, then continued onward.

* * *

For a solid five minutes Rainbow Dash weaved her way through the back-alleys of downtown Canterlot, startling more than a few stray cats as well as one unfortunate busboy just trying to take out the trash. She only scraped the walls a mere seven times, a fact she was proud of. "Heheh, best flier ever," she bragged before deftly turning a corner.

A bit of dark purple caught her eye, and she froze in mid-air.

The Mare-Do-Well looked at her, frozen in shock. She looked back. Seconds ticked on like ages as they simply stared at one another, dumbfounded, until all at once they made their moves.

Rainbow dashed forward. The Mare-Do-Well scampered out of the alcove. The two missed each other by less than an inch, Rainbow Dash halting herself on a dime and turning to swipe at her target – but it was too late. The Mare-Do-Well had made a break for the nearest exit, and Rainbow saw her turn out onto the street. She growled to herself in frustration and shot forward in chase, shooting out into the open with so much speed she couldn't turn sharply enough. By the time she'd brought herself around the Mare-Do-Well had just about disappeared down another alley, only the fluttering of her cape behind her giving her away.

"Not _this_ time," Rainbow said through gritted teeth, shooting towards the new alley. With her speed under control again she raced after every glimpse of the Mare-Do-Well she saw, her smile growing darker as she drew closer and closer.

The Mare-Do-Well darted left onto a side street mere seconds ahead of Rainbow Dash, who pumped a fist in triumph. She followed suit, turned as sharply as she could, and crashed into someone.

"H-hey! Watch where you're going, Rainbow _Crash_ ," the girl said, on her butt and rubbing her head. Pale blue skin, bright white hair, and an air of general superiority about her even in such a humiliating position, Trixie Lulamoon gave Rainbow Dash a look of utter derision.

Rainbow just rolled her eyes and offered her classmate a hand up. "Sorry, Trixie," she said, starting to look around impatiently. "Did you see where Mare-Do-Well went?"

For a fleeting moment Trixie seemed anxious and fearful, but then she crossed her arms and sniffed defiantly, turning her head to the side. "Hmph. Perhaps the Great and Powerful Trixie _did_ see the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well pass through here just before she was _rudely_ -" she turned a sharp look back at Dash- "run into by a certain _wannabe hero_. But Trixie does not see why she should tell you anything about our city's greatest protector."

"Uggh...," Rainbow groaned, palming her face. "Come _on_ , Trixie, this is _important!_ That Mare-Do-Well character could _totally_ be up to something evil right now!" Now hovering a foot above the pavement, she thrust her hands into the air.

Once more fear flashed in Trixie's eyes, but it soon disappeared as a sly smile formed on her lips. "Oh, is that so? Well _Trixie_ thinks that Mare-Do-Well is up to something _heroic_ , like always. So Trixie would rather help her than let some obnoxious _loudmouth_ like _you_ interfere." She shrugged in feigned helplessness. "Oh well. If it's any consolation, Rainbow Crash, Mare-Do-Well is probably _miles_ away by now. I bet she teleported the moment you lost sight of her."

Rainbow froze, stunned by the realization, then clenched her teeth in anger and flew off. Trixie let out a short laugh. "See you later!" she called out tauntingly, flipping her hair and walking off.

Half a minute later a motorcycle drove past her, its leather-clad rider and Trixie looking at one another for just a split-second before the biker sped off. Trixie scratched her head out of puzzlement, then shrugged and continued on.

* * *

Inside, she was laughing. Not once but _twice_ had that armored idiot been misled into thinking she was somewhere else, when in reality she'd simply doubled back to her hiding spot again. Of course, she _had_ made sure to secretly watch the girl fly off before doing so. She was simply brilliant in that way, minimizing the risk of another chance encounter like she had.

And, naturally, she'd gotten back into position with more than enough time to watch her targets pull up. There weren't any other cars parked in front of the bank or even much traffic, which she knew was a trend that had caused the would-be crooks to target this branch in the first place, so they'd at least pulled off their arrival without attracting any attention. They thought they would have a simple in-and-out job, no hassle, no delays, and no risks that desperate men like them were unwilling to take.

They were wrong, of course. Her hidden smile grew as she watched two of the men get out of the car with their masks already on, walk up to the big double-doors side by side, pull out their guns, and charge in.

She would enjoy the looks on their faces when they saw her waiting for them.

An alarm went off, and she took that as her cue to leap dramatically from her hiding spot and charge the getaway car. The driver didn't see her until she was right next to him.

* * *

"Great job, Dashie, you blew it again," Rainbow Dash muttered to herself as she flew away from Trixie, quickly gaining altitude so she could better look out over the city. Once she was satisfied she stopped and hovered in place, taking a swig of water while she looked around. "Where to next?"

After a few seconds she just shrugged and flew off in the direction the wind was blowing just because it was easiest, and a couple minutes after that she landed on an office building to rest a little. She took a power bar from her bag and tore into it, shielding the sun from her eyes as she sat and watched for any sign of suspicious movement.

Then an alarm bell rang through the air, nearly startling her off the ledge she'd been sitting on. "What the?" She floated into the air a bit as she looked around for the source of the noise, her eyes soon going wide. "Hold on, doesn't that mean there's a robbery?" She grinned in triumph. "Well whaddaya know, I _finally_ get a chance to be a hero!"

She flew off towards the source of the alarm, but quickly paused as she recalled her father's disapproval earlier in the week when she'd suggested she could fight crime. She frowned, but after a moment she clenched her fists and resumed her flight. "Sorry, dad," she whispered. "But I gotta do the right thing..."

* * *

It took her only seconds to locate the source of the alarm. The first surprise she got as she swooped down to save the day was that it was a small bank right near where she'd last found the Mare-Do-Well.

Her second surprise was that the Mare-Do-Well was there too, pulling what – as far as Rainbow Dash could tell – looked like some innocent motorist out of a car parked out in front. She gasped in shock at the perceived heinous act, then narrowed her eyes and charged toward the pair without a word or cry.

And then, for the first time since she'd started her pursuit earlier that week, Rainbow Dash touch the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well. She slammed her shoulder right into the costumed woman's side and sent her flying, the dazed motorist pulled along with her. All three landed on the pavement in one big heap, and Dash was the first to her feet – pulling the Made-Do-Well up by her collar moments later.

"What's the big idea, huh?" she demanded angrily, the mysterywoman looking at her with wide, stunned eyes. "What, did you think you were gonna steal a car too, on top of robbing that bank?"

She motioned at the building behind her with one hand, and the Mare-Do-Well immediately used the opportunity to shove her to the side and cast a gloved hand out towards the motorist – who had gotten to his feet and was now scrambling back to his car.

"Oh no you don't!" Dash growled, zipping forward and grabbing the Mare-Do-Well's long cape, yanking her backwards just as a lasso shot out of her glove. The sudden jerk caused the magical rope to miss its target by an inch, and the motorist reached the broken driver's-side window and frantically stuck an arm through to grab the handle.

Meanwhile, the Mare-Do-Well had used the momentum of the pull to whip around and backhand Dash across the jaw. As Dash staggered back the magical lasso retracted into the Mare-Do-Well's glove, allowing her to throw a right hook that was easily ducked under. Rainbow Dash countered swiftly, darting forward and grabbing her foe's collar again and lifting her into the air, but the Mare-Do-Well swiftly grabbed her cape with her left hand and swung it around the both of them.

"What the-?" Dash yelped in surprise as the cape fell over her, cocooning both young women in darkness. It shrunk rapidly into nothingness despite Dash's struggling inside, and moments later they reappeared several feet away – Dash landing on her head, the Mare-Do-Well on her feet. She bolted back towards the getaway car and stopped the door before it was closed, then pulled the panicked driver from it once more.

"Please, no!" the driver pleaded before the Mare-Do-Well punched him in the gut, then let him fall to the ground. She stood over him imperiously, cast out her lasso, and with a flick of the wrist it tied itself around him.

By now a crowd had begun to form around the area, drawn by the sound of the alarm, and the sight of the two superheroines. The motorcyclist in the black leather jacket had shown up as well, but turned around and left after less than a minute.

"Urggh..." Rainbow Dash groaned as she propped herself up on one arm, immediately reaching back and feeling where she'd landed. No blood, but just touching it was enough to make her wince. "That was a dirty trick," she growled as she forced herself back to her feet, then looked around for her attacker. She saw her perched atop the getaway car, its door still open and its unconscious driver tied up next to it. With a scowl she stumbled forward a step before regaining her stride, her focus entirely on the Mare-Do-Well.

Then she stopped.

Two men wearing ski masks had just run out of the bank with guns in their hands and sacks over their shoulders. They came to a quick stop on the bank's top step when they saw the Mare-Do-Well waiting for them, swore, and opened fire. The costumed woman wasted no time in leaping upward out of the way, however, and just as quickly vanished into her cape when the robbers turned their fire.

"Okay," Dash said, wide-eyed and sitting flush against the front of the getaway car, "this is _so_ not what I expected." She hesitantly turned and looked over the hood of the car, but flinching when she heard another gunshot. "I guess I was wrong about what she was doing here," she said nervously as she watched the Mare-Do-Well kick one of the men in the chest, then quickly dart away to the side when his partner caught him. That man quickly shot into her path, forcing her to quickly stop and change directions.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. "Okay," she said to herself as she retreated behind the car again, "I can handle this. It's just two thugs with guns, and I'm super fast. No sweat." She took another deep breath, then flew out of hiding in a long arcing backflip towards the bank. She rolled onto her belly and grinned as she easily swerved out of the way of a bullet, then circled around to launch her attack.

Distracted by the new heroine on the scene, the two bank robbers left themselves open to another pair of flying kicks to the back courtesy of the Mare-Do-Well. They stumbled towards Rainbow Dash, who stuck out her arms and clotheslined the pair as she flew between them. She swooped upward and gave the fallen men a cocky grin, only to scowl again when the Mare-Do-Well shoved her to the side.

"Hey!" she protested to no effect, her rival focused entirely on tying up the fallen men with two more magic lassos. Dash crossed her arms and huffed, not bothering to look at the Mare-Do-Well as she reluctantly said "Well...good work, I guess..."

The Mare-Do-Well gave her a sharp look, then crouched down and inspected the bags of loot that the two robbers had dropped. Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes at that and started to fly closer, but the wail of distant sirens and the barking of nearby dogs made her pause. The Mare-Do-Well did as well, and all at once the two young women became fully aware of the crowd that had gathered around them.

A sudden yelp arose from one section of the crowd, and the source quickly became apparent as a large and scruffy-looking terrier suddenly darted out through their legs, dragging an unmanned leash behind it. The dog made a beeline for Rainbow Dash and the Mare-Do-Well, the latter recoiling slightly as it began to sniff the ground around her. It only stopped, and lifted its head and ears, when it heard a series of further yelps and cries of annoyance from the crowd. The source of that commotion was made apparent as well when the crowd was forced to part by a horde of eager, sniffing, barking dogs, their leashes all in the hands of a single tall old man.

"Pardon me, ladies," the old man greeted with a tip of his battered top hat, a single eye glancing nervously around the scene as his dogs fanned out to investigate. "I'll just, ah, collect my little _friend_ ," the man said with a sheepish point towards the terrier that was now sniffing the fallen bags of loot, "and be on my way."

Both of the costumed young women glared at him, but it was Dash who reached down and picked up the loosed leash before the terrier could react. She handed it over to the old man just as quickly, earning an astonished look and a one-eyed blink. For a moment his astonishment faded into an unnervingly joyful smile, but that too was swept away quickly by the blare of sirens. The gray-skinned man paled, and with a quick whistle and an urgent tug he got his horde of dogs and started leading them back through the crowd – away from the police cars and ambulance that had just pulled up.

"It's about time," Rainbow Dash sighed in annoyance, lowering herself back down to the ground for the first time since leaving her hiding spot. "Though I guess we _did_ do pretty good today," she added with a growing smile, puffing herself up proudly as several bystanders began to take pictures of her. "Sorry for being on your case so much," she said with a half-second glance towards the Mare-Do-Well. "Maybe I mis-" she looked again and saw her costumed rival leaping away from the scene- "judged you..." Dash's face fell again, and she sighed in annoyance.

Police swarmed the scene moments later, taking statements from Rainbow Dash and those who had witnessed the showdown between her, the Mare-Do-Well, and the three would-be bank robbers. Eventually the men were arrested and the paramedics tended to a few people inside the bank who had been injured, and most of the crowd dispersed. Soon all that were left were Rainbow Dash, some of the paparazzi that had been following her around, and the last couple police officers making sure everything was in order.

"Can I _go_ now?" Dash asked in an impatient whine, still ponied-up on the front steps of the bank. "I have _stuff_ to do."

"Not yet, Miss Dash, we still have a few more questions for you," one of the officers said.

Rainbow Dash groaned and the officer rolled his eyes, though both looked over at the bank entrance when another man with pale orange skin and darker hair rushed out of it, obviously flustered. He quickly spotted another officer near the door, and hurried over to talk to her in frantic though hushed tones. "Stay right there, Miss Dash," the officer Dash had been talking to said, walking over to join the conversation.

A few foot-tappingly bored minutes passed as Rainbow Dash watched the three converse, which ended shortly after looks of muted, thoughtful shock from the officers. The one who'd been speaking to Dash gave her a brief look of suspicion, and Dash's initial confusion turned to wariness when he walked over to her with a glower on her face.

"Excuse me, Miss," he asked, his voice stern and serious, "you didn't happen to have handled either of the bags those robbers were carrying, did you?"

"Uhh, no, I never touched them," Rainbow Dash replied, leaning away slightly on instinct. "Why?"

"Hmm," the man said, his mouth drawn thin. "I _see_. Well, the bank's manager has reported a discrepancy between the amount stolen and the amount recovered, and as you are one of the few people who got close to the bags I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to come down to the station with me for more questioning."

"But I told you, I never touched the things!" Dash protested. "Here, check my bag if you want to," she said, thrusting her bag at him before motioning to what she was wearing. "And it's not like I have any pockets in this _armor_ to hide stuff in."

The officer raised a brow and looked her over, then accepted the bag and started rifling through it. "Well, this checks out," he said after a few minutes of fruitless searching. He gave her back the bag, then asked "You didn't happen to see anyone else handle the bags, did you?"

Dash let out another annoyed sigh as she slung her bag back over her shoulder. "The only ones I saw get close to the loot were that weird guy's dog and-" She stopped suddenly, her eyes going wide with realization. "The _Mare-Do-Well!_ Of _course!_ " she exclaimed, pounding her fist into her open hand. "I _knew_ she was up to no good..."

She shot into the air without warning or thought, eyes narrowed as they once again began to search the shadows and alleyways of the city around her. The officers and the bank manager were left to gape in shock on the steps of the bank, though their attention was soon drawn to a fourth man, brown-skinned and yellow-haired, running up to the two officers.

* * *

She wasn't entirely certain whether to call it a success or not. She had certainly foiled the robbery, true, but not before that rainbow-colored brute had somehow managed to interfere again. And between her and that strange man with the dogs distracting her, she'd ended up leaving the scene _far_ too late. She wanted to tantalize her fans and cultivate an air of mystery, after all. Not stick around for an extended photo op.

There'd be time for those later, once everyone had come to adore her. Once she no longer had to worry about flying idiots barging in by fluke and stealing half her well-deserved glory.

But whether or not it was a success, she did know she'd at least gotten something out of it. As she raced through the shadows of Canterlot she allowed her hand to brush against one of her suit's hidden pockets and feel the weight she'd oh-so-recently added to it when nobody was looking. For a split-second it caused a well of guilt to spring out of some deep corner of her mind, but she suppressed it with ruthless and well-practiced efficiency.

After all, wasn't it only right that she be compensated for her efforts?


	5. Chapter 5 - The Crusaders Enter!

**Author's Note**

Are you ready for the Crusaders (and Big McIntosh) to go looking for wrongs to right and justice to dish out? You better be, cause this week is an adventure in helping people and also saving money.

Next chapter we veer back into the drama with the human world's Starlight and Sunset, but for now let's just enjoy a humorous little romp, shall we?

As always, let me know what you thought of the chapter and I'll see you all next time!

\- Fangren

* * *

 **Chapter 5 – Lovely! Bold! Adventurous! The Crusaders+1 Enter the Scene**

"I'm leaving, Rarity!" Sweetie Belle called up the stairs to her sister, making sure her voice was good and loud in case she was still in the shower. Sweetie didn't bother waiting for a reply, instead running back to the front door to join up with her friends. She slammed the door shut behind her out of sheer enthusiasm, and didn't spare a thought towards locking it.

"What, your sister's not even gonna say goodbye?" Scootaloo asked, brow raised and hands on her hips.

Sweetie shrugged, the three walking as one down the walk towards their ride. "I'm pretty sure she's in the middle of something important."

"Really?" Apple Bloom asked. "What?"

"Beats me," Sweetie answered with another shrug. "Rarity's been acting weird all morning."

"She _always_ acts weird, though," Scootaloo pointed out.

The other two giggled. "True," Sweetie said with a broad smile. "But she's being _extra_ weird today. I'm pretty sure she's hiding something."

"Oh, maybe she's got a boyfriend!" Applebloom suggested as they reached the old pickup, her own smile excited.

Sweetie pursed her lips and hummed uncertainly. "I don't know...usually when she's crushing on a guy she's pretty obvious about it. Last time, she was swooning so much that Mom had to take her to see the doctor."

Applebloom and Scootaloo shared a stunned look. "Well, I sure am glad Applejack's not like that."

"Has she _ever_ had a crush on someone?" Scootaloo asked.

"I don't think so," was the answer. "You ever notice anythin' like that, Big Mac?" Applebloom asked her brother, sitting patiently in the pickup's driver seat with the window rolled down.

Big Mac tapped his chin in thought for a moment, then said "Nnnope."

"Guess she just ain't interested," Apple Bloom decided with a helpless shrug. "But enough about that." She smiled and looked at her two best friends, both already doing the same. "You girls ready for today?"

"We sure are!" answered Sweetie, sticking her hand into the middle of their group.

"Yeah!" Scootaloo chimed in, placing her hand on top of Sweetie's.

"Alright then," Apple Bloom said, adding her own hand.

"CRUSADERS FOR JUSTICE FOREVER!" the three shouted as one, loud enough to make Big Mac flinch and more than one dog in the neighborhood start to howl. The trio descended into a giggle-fit of boundless energy, eagerly rushing around the truck to get into their seats – Apple Bloom in the shotgun position next to her brother, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo crammed into the less-than-roomy back seat.

Soon even Big McIntosh had been swept up by their enthusiasm, chuckling along with them as he backed the truck out of the driveway.

* * *

"So, where to first?" Sweetie asked as they reached the edge of her neighborhood, Big Mac waiting for a chance to turn out onto the main road.

"The hardware store," Big Mac answered with a happy smile.

"The _hardware store?_ " Scootaloo repeated, her face scrunched up with distaste. "Why _there?_ "

"Big Mac needs to get a few things," Apple Bloom explained, turning around to look at her friends so they could see how sorry she was. "Plus Granny Smith gave us a list of some other stuff to pick up too," she added, holding up the list in question. It was long.

Scootaloo groaned, throwing herself back in her seat. "I thought we were going to be doing _hero stuff_ today, not running a bunch of _errands_."

"Well, just think of it as our first good deed of the day," Sweetie said, staying positive. "We're helping an old lady with her shopping!"

"Yeah, exactly!" Apple Bloom chimed in brightly.

Scootaloo just crossed her arms, her grumbling unabated. "I'm still worn out on shopping since we tried being Crusaders for _Savings_..."

"I still think that was one of our more useful ideas," Sweetie told her. "Plus finding all the right coupons was pretty fun too."

"Whatever," Scootaloo said. "Let's just get this over with..."

* * *

Although the journey to the hardware store should have been a fairly short one, Big McIntosh soon realized that the girls he was chaperoning weren't about to keep it that way. Only five minutes in they forced him to stop so they could get out and help an old man cross a busy intersection; another three minutes after that Sweetie Belle had expressed concern for a cat that was walking down the street without an owner in sight and he'd been forced to stop again. He watched them chase off after it with unbridled enthusiasm for a couple seconds before driving off to find a place to park, and wasn't at all surprised to see them return fifteen minutes later, catless.

"It wasn't lost or a runaway," Apple Bloom had explained to him as she and her friends piled back into the truck. "It was just an outdoor cat. Had a collar and everything."

"I'm glad it was healthy and not in trouble or anything," Sweetie said as she buckled up. "Though I get the feeling it didn't really like us."

"I'll say," Scootaloo chimed in as she nursed a few shallow scratches on her arms. Apple Bloom took a small first aid kit out of the glove compartment and passed it back to her, and she and Sweetie Belle quickly got to work tending their minor wounds.

* * *

Eventually, after a few more stops that mostly turned out to be false alarms, the four reached Canterlot Hardware. A couple minutes after that, Big Mac had found a parking spot and they all filed out of the truck.

"Hey, you think anyone's gonna need our help inside?" Scootaloo asked.

"Maybe," Sweetie Belle shrugged.

"Let's go see!" Apple Bloom finished enthusiastically, leading her friends on an eager charge to the front door. Big Mac followed at a calmer pace, smiling and shaking his head.

It was Apple Bloom who opened the door, but she – and her friends – stopped the moment they recognized who was on the other side of it.

"Oh, hey Sunset! Hey Twilight!" Apple Bloom began with a smile at the two older girls, both of whom were carrying heavy-looking bags.

"What're you two doing here?" Sweetie Belle asked, squeezing into the store past Apple Bloom.

"Buying hardware, obviously," Scootaloo told her, on Apple Bloom's other side.

"Well _duh_ ," Sweetie Belle shot back. "But what're they buying it _for?_ "

"They _do_ got a lot of it...," Apple Bloom said, a finger on her lip as she cast an uncertain look at the bags Twilight and Sunset were carrying.

"Eeeyup," Big Mac chimed in, appearing behind the three.

"Hey girls," Sunset greeted, stepping aside to let the group enter. "Hey Big Mac."

"Yes, hi," Twilight said with a hint of impatience as she, too, moved to the side. "All this is actually just materials for a research project I'm helping Sunset with. We actually have a bus to catch, though, so maybe we could talk-"

She never finished her sentence, the interest of the three Crusaders now piqued. "Ooh, what _kind_ of research project?" Apple Bloom asked as she peeked into Twilight's bags. "Anything we could help with?"

Scootaloo moved to join her, but Sweetie Belle hung back with an uncertain frown on her face. "I don't know. This stuff looks a little too advanced for us..."

"Pfft, we can handle it," Scootaloo scoffed, waving her hand before delving more fully into the bags. Twilight squirmed in discomfort, but neither Scootaloo nor Apple Bloom noticed. "We can do _anything_ if we put our minds to it!"

"Yeah!" Apple Bloom chorused.

Sweetie studied the bags and their contents more closely, until her smile suddenly grew. "Good point. Hey, maybe we should try being Crusaders for Science again after we're done being Crusaders for Justice?"

"That's a _great_ idea!" Scootaloo said, bursting with enthusiasm.

"Yeah!" Apple Bloom chorused, again.

Twilight's body lurched back a little as she gave the girls a puzzled look. "Uhh...I'm sorry? Did I hear you right? You're Crusaders for Justice?"

Apple Bloom looked up at her and beamed. "Sure are!"

"Yeah," Scootaloo said. "Today we're going around fighting bad guys and helping people, just like Rainbow Dash!" She struck a karate pose as if to emphasize her point.

"Well," Sweetie Belle corrected without hesitation, "more like Mare-Do-Well. I don't think Rainbow Dash has been all that active as a superhero yet."

Scootaloo gaped and puffed herself up in outrage and protest, but all she could manage to say was "Hey!"

Apple Bloom gave the older girls an apologetic smile, saying "Well, regardless, we're gonna be tryin' our _own_ hands at the hero business." She stiffened at a sound from behind her, and looked back to see Big Mac crossing his arms and giving her a stern and protective look. "Uhh, at least as far as we can do so, err, responsibly," she added, quickly and sheepishly. "Y'know, helpin' old ladies cross the street and the like." She looked back at her brother, who nodded his approval.

Scootaloo, on the other hand, let her distaste be known with a sputter. "So just the _boring_ stuff...," she said as if to clarify her friend's explanation.

An odd smile suddenly appeared on Twilight's face, and she hooked her arm around Sunset's. "Yes, well, we'll just leave you to it, then," she said. "But we _really_ must be going now, so...goodbye!"

She made for the exit with enough force to drag Sunset along with her, who said "Later, guys! You keep an eye on them, Big Mac!" as the four waved her off. Once she was out the doorway she forced herself to stop, quickly adding "And if you see Rainbow Dash, tell her not to be so aggres-SIVE!" finishing just as Twilight yanked her away.

The four watched them leave in silence, the girls looking mildly bewildered but Big Mac looking unperturbed. He nodded, and said "Eeyup."

"Wow, Twilight sure was in a hurry to get outta here," Apple Bloom observed.

"You don't think she doesn't like us, do you?" Sweetie asked, a frown forming on her lips.

"Nah, she loves us," Scootaloo said with a dismissive hand wave. "Everyone does! She just had a bus to catch, remember?"

"Oh yeah!" Sweetie said, brightening up.

Scootaloo nodded, then punched her open palm. "Alright girls, let's find somebody to help!"

"Yeah!" Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle chorused, and the three raced into the store. Big Mac just smiled and shook his head, then started walking towards the nails.

* * *

They were the only people in the store, aside from the elderly green-skinned clerk. And he was quite insistent that he didn't need any help.

"Aww man, what's the point of crusading for _justice_ when there's no justice to deal out?" Scootaloo complained, throwing up her hands in frustration.

"It's okay," Sweetie told her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure there'll be someone we can help in the next place we stop at."

"I guess," Scootaloo said, slumping. "But what are we supposed to _do_ until then?"

"It _does_ look like my brother's gonna be a while," Apple Bloom said, a finger to her lip as she watched Big Mac compare two boxes of nails at the other end of the aisle. "I guess we just look around for now" She shrugged. "Who knows, maybe somethin'll catch our interest?"

Scootaloo rubbed a finger across her chin in thought. "Hmm...well, I could always use more spare parts for my scooter..."

"Couldn't go wrong with pickin' up some supplies of our own for the clubhouse, neither!" Apple Bloom added brightly.

"Yeah!" Scootaloo said. "Especially once we turn it into our secret _hero_ base!"

"Yeah!"

"And I bet I have coupons for just about everything we could need!" Sweetie added enthusiastically, pulling a thick coupon book out of a pocket.

Her friends turned blank stares her way. "What?" she shrugged. "I told you, I _liked_ couponing!"

They kept staring.

* * *

"Electric screwdriver?" Scootaloo asked, holding up a cordless model with an eager grin.

"Nope," Sweetie said almost immediately, her eyes glued to her coupon book.

"Already got one anyway," Apple Bloom said offhandedly as she perused the shelves of power tools.

"Ooh, how about this cool power saw?" Scootaloo said next, putting the electric screwdriver on the nearest shelf and grabbing a saw instead. It was red.

"You kiddin'?" Apple Bloom answered, looking over just so she could raise a brow. "Granny barely even lets me use the _regular_ saw. Besides-" she turned back to the wall of tools - "I don't know if we're gonna need to be doin' any cuttin'. A new drill might be good though," she said with a smile, picking up a shiny black drill while Scootaloo put the power saw back on what was blatantly the wrong hook.

"Ooh! How about a jackhammer?" Sweetie Belle suggested, staring at a particular coupon with wide-eyed delight.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo shared a look. "A _jackhammer?_ " the latter asked with enough skepticism to power the entire aisle's worth of tools.

Sweetie looked between them in confusion, then held up her book and pointed at the coupon she'd found. "What? We can get one for 10% off!"

"Would we ever even _need_ one of those?" Apple Bloom asked Scootaloo.

Scootaloo paused to think for a moment, then said "Better remember it, just in case."

"Good idea," Apple Bloom said. "Though even with the 10% off I reckon a jackhammer's a little more than we can afford right now."

"True," Sweetie admitted with an uncertain frown as she continued to leaf through her book.

"Let's just stick with the drill for now," Apple Bloom said, tucking her choice under her arm. "Unless you got another good coupon in there for us."

Sweetie quickly flipped a few pages. "Uhh, does a two-for-one on garden hoses count?"

"How long'a hoses are we talkin' about?" Apple Bloom asked immediately.

"Uhh," Sweetie quickly squinted at the coupon, "fifty feet."

"Plastic or rubber?" Apple Bloom added without missing a beat.

"Does that even matter?" Scootaloo questioned.

Apple Bloom shrugged. "I dunno, maybe."

"Well, the coupon doesn't specify either way," Sweetie told them.

The three looked at each other, and shrugged. "Let's just put it in the 'just in case' pile with the jackhammer," Apple Bloom said as she led her friends to another aisle.

A few more minutes later – and a few more entries for the 'just in case' pile – the three had regrouped with Big McIntosh to check out. Then they put the vacuum cleaner and the industrial-strength adhesive they'd picked out back on the shelves after a receiving a stern 'No', and went to meet him at the checkout counter.

"Are you _sure_ you wanna pay separately?" Apple Bloom asked Scootaloo as she paid for her drill and Sweetie Belle's half-off waffle iron.

"It's fine," Scootaloo told her with an armful of spare scooter parts. "You two are buying stuff for the group, I'm just buying stuff for me."

Apple Bloom shrugged. "Suit yourself."

"Well, you girls certainly are buying a lot," the old clerk said as he handed Apple Bloom her bag. "Of course," he laughed, "not nearly as much as Miss Sparkle and her friend purchased, but still. Is there something going on that I'm not aware of? Should I be expecting more young people coming in today and buying supplies?"

The three girls looked at one another. "I don't think so," Apple Bloom answered.

"Yeah, we're just buying this stuff because it's convenient," Sweetie added.

"He's the one who wanted to come here," Scootaloo finished, pointing at Big Mac who was admiring the single box of nails he'd purchased.

The clerk chuckled, beginning to scan Scootaloo's items. "Well, that's fair enough I suppose. You were all able to find everything you needed alright, at least?" he asked the four.

"Eeyup," Big Mac answered, his sister and her friends soon following with their agreement.

"Even _if_ we didn't get to buy all of it...," Scootaloo muttered under her breath a second later.

"Well young lady, your total is $37.36," the clerk told her. She paid quickly with plastic and coupon, and as she took her bags he smiled. "Have a nice day, and come again!"

"Thanks!" Scootaloo answered, waving along with her friends as they all moved towards the exit.

"We will!" Apple Bloom added.

"You too!" Sweetie chimed in.

"Eeyup," Big Mac finished.

"So, where to next?" Sweetie Belle asked, all four back in the truck and headed out onto the main road. The clock on the dashboard read a little past 10:30.

"The pet store," Big Mac answered plainly, not taking his eyes off the road.

"The _pet store?_ " Scootaloo questioned, once more raising an eyebrow.

"We gotta pick up some food for Winona," Apple Bloom explained, once more apologetic.

Scootaloo huffed and crossed her arms. "When are we gonna go somewhere _we_ wanna go?" she asked.

Apple Bloom gave her brother a questioning, almost pleading look, but he simply raised a brow and shook his head. "Sorry, but we gotta finish Granny's list first," she told her friends.

"That's okay," Sweetie said despite Scootaloo's audible disagreement. "We understand."

Scootaloo rolled her eyes.

* * *

Plushie's Pet Supplies was, while not the largest or flashiest pet shop in the city, the most respected by more established pet owners. It had always ensured that the supplies it sold were of the highest quality available and that any animals they housed were ethically obtained and treated, and that had earned them more than enough business to compete with the larger franchises. This business had included the Apple Family for two generations – for while Plushie's didn't supply anything for livestock, the Apples always had a dog or two around that needed care.

A bell rang when they opened the door, alerting the handful of employees working the register and floor. However, as the Crusaders rushed in seeking people to help and Big Mac quietly tread the familiar path to the dog food, they all decided to let them be.

As with the hardware store, the girls found the shop distressingly free of people in distress. All the customers present either had no problem getting what they were looking for or were already being helped by an actual employee, and the employees themselves were getting on without trouble. And so, with heavy sighs and great reluctance, the three Crusaders for Justice regrouped with their chaperone who didn't even need their helping in carrying the giant sack of dog food he'd picked out. The girls had entirely chalked it up as another uneventful stop as they waited at the checkout, only to have their attention caught by the entrance bell ringing.

It was Fluttershy. She was dressed in the same light, flowing, pastel garments they knew her for, accessorized with just a hint of pet hair, but she looked much more distracted than usual. The Crusaders looked at one another, shrugged, and walked over to her.

"Hey Fluttershy, what's up?" Apple Bloom greeted, catching the older girl by surprise – she let out a faint squeak, and her hands darted to the stone that hung around her neck.

"Is something wrong?" Scootaloo asked.

"Cause it seems like something's wrong," Sweetie added.

"Oh, hi girls," Fluttershy answered, her voice soft and her hands slowly dropping. "Umm, I don't know if I'd say that something's _wrong_ , exactly," she said, now wringing her hands and looking away, "but, well... I suppose today hasn't been going like I _expected_ it to, either..."

"Is it anything _we_ can help with?" Sweetie asked, her friends leaning forward with eager smiles.

Taken aback by their enthusiasm, it was a moment before Fluttershy put a finger to her lip and began to think. "Umm, well, I guess so, if you really want to that is..."

"We want to!" Apple Bloom told her. "Trust me!"

"Yeah, we've been looking for people to help all morning!" Scootaloo added.

"Oh, well, in that case, I'd be glad to give you someone to help," Fluttershy told them with a small smile. She paused to think again, finally saying "Umm, well, I guess the main thing is that I'm not sure how to handle this person that I work with at the animal shelter. He's a bit of a handful, not at _all_ the type of person I'm comfortable being around. But I can't _not_ be around him either, and I've been given some, well, conflicting advice on how to deal with him."

"Hmm," Apple Bloom said, rubbing her chin. "Sounds like quite the pickle."

"Yeah, you should probably start by telling us exactly what he's been doing," Scootaloo added.

Sweetie Belle held an arm out in front of them. "Wait," she said, looking from them to Fluttershy. "Before that, this isn't one of those things where we assume you're talking about a human but you're really talking about like a dog or something, is it?" She ignored the strange looks her friends were giving her.

Fluttershy blinked in surprise, then smiled. "Oh no, I'm talking about a human. All the dogs at the shelter _love_ me, and I love them."

"Okay, just checking," Sweetie said, returning the smile.

"So, uh, yeah," Apple Bloom said, still giving Sweetie an odd look. "What's this guy been doin' exactly?"

This prompted a long-suffering sigh from Fluttershy. "A lot of _little_ things, mostly. He'll pretend he doesn't know how to do things we've demonstrated several times so we have to do it all over again. He'll misinterpret requests on purpose and either get us the wrong thing or bring the right thing to us way later than we wanted. He'll play mean pranks on the animals when we aren't looking. And the worst part is, he's not even consistent about it! _Sometimes_ he'll be mean and make things harder, but other times he'll just do what he's supposed to! And whenever someone calls him out on what he's doing, he'll act like we're just picking on him because he's an old man with a bad history!"

By this point Fluttershy had gotten so wrapped up in recounting her woes that she'd stopped paying attention to the Crusaders entirely. The three girls, for their part, were sharing a variety of uneasy expressions between each other.

"He's very good at _seeming_ kind and thoughtful," Fluttershy continued, "so much so that I keep having second thoughts about him, but he's _also_ very good at making me doubt myself and what I'm doing." She finally looked back at the girls who'd offered their help to her, the distress in her eyes strong enough to make them flinch.

"Wow, uh, that sure is...something...," Scootaloo said after a moment, putting on a nervous smile.

"I'll say," Sweetie Belle added. "I'm not sure we know how to help with something like _that_."

Fluttershy's whole body seemed to droop at that comment. "Oh...," she said softly, "I understand. I'm sorry I bothered you with it..."

"Don't be!" Apple Bloom interjected with forced brightness, darting forward to put an arm around Fluttershy's back. "Even if it don't seem like somethin' we can fix, we're still gonna try. Right girls?" She looked to her friends for reassurance, and they gave it – after a moment. "So," she asked Fluttershy, "you mentioned you were getting' conflictin' advice, right?"

"Oh, yes," Fluttershy nodded, smiling softly again. "Dr. Rescue says that we should just treat him like, well, who he is, and not let him get to us. He'll only be volunteering at the animal shelter for a few months, after all."

"Well, that sounds reasonable," Scootaloo said. "If he's a jerk, then just ignore or avoid him as best you can."

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle nodded, but Fluttershy just sighed. "Yes, and I was going to do just that, but then this morning Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna dropped by, and, well..." She sighed. "Long story short, they gave me some tips for dealing with him better. But they _also_ said that the reason why he's such a jerk to begin with is because he's never had anyone really care about him before, and has never had anyone to care _about_."

The Crusaders shared a much more uncertain look. "That _is_ pretty sad to think about...," Apple Bloom said.

"Oh, I know!" Fluttershy replied. "And it just made me think about how Sunset and Twilight used to be before they became our friends. And even though I know he's a lot older than they are and so probably can't change as easily, I still can't help but thinking that he _can_ if only someone would give him a chance."

"And...you wanna _be_ that someone?" Scootaloo asked, skepticism heavy in her voice.

Fluttershy looked at her, then down at her fiddling hands. "Umm...well, I guess so... I mean, nobody _else_ thinks it might be a good idea to try. And I _am_ supposed to have the Element of Kindness, I think, so why shouldn't I extend that kindness to him?"

The Crusaders shared another look. "That's also a pretty good point," Scootaloo admitted.

"So... _do_ you wanna show him kindness and try to be his friend?" Sweetie asked, looking Fluttershy in the eye.

A moment passed as Fluttershy thought before a determined look appeared in her eyes and she nodded. "I do. I just don't know if I can succeed, especially when everybody else seems to think it's impossible."

"Well, _I_ don't think it's impossible," Sweetie told her. "Not for you, anyway. And besides, just because something is _hard_ doesn't mean it's not worth doing. I mean, look at us!" She motioned to her two friends. "We've been trying for _years_ to figure out what we're really good at, and we _still_ haven't succeeded!"

"Hey, yeah!" Apple Bloom said as a bright smile formed on her face. "Crusadin's been some of the hardest stuff I've ever done, but I'm _never_ gonna give up until we figure it out!"

"Yeah, me neither!" Scootaloo chimed in, also smiling now. "You know what, _forget_ all that stuff about him being a jerk. He's not gonna _stop_ being a jerk on his own, and if you think being nice to him will help then that's what you should do."

"No matter _how_ tough it might be," Sweetie added with a nod, her partners following suit a moment after.

Fluttershy smiled and nodded as well. "You're right. I don't care _how_ hard it is, I'm still going to do the right thing," she declared, fists clenched as she looked up past the pet store ceiling to the metaphorical heavens. "Thank you for helping me," she added, snapping her head back down to look at the younger girls. "I think all I _really_ needed was someone to talk to and give me a confidence boost."

"Glad we could help!" Scootaloo told her, hands behind her head.

It was then that the four heard a throat being cleared and they turned to see Big Mac standing behind Sweetie and Scootaloo, his brow raised and his sack of kibble over his shoulder.

"Well, uh, let us know how it turns out," Apple Bloom said, stepping away from Fluttershy as her brother slowly began to lead his charges to the exit.

"Good luck!" Sweetie added with a parting wave.

"Thanks," Fluttershy said, returning the gesture as she stepped aside to let them pass. "Good luck finding yourselves!"

"We will! Goodbye!" Scootaloo answered with one final, parting wave.

* * *

"' _We will_ '?" Sweetie repeated with an air of disbelief as she and her friends piled back into Big Mac's truck.

"What?" Scootaloo shrugged. "It's all I could think of! And it's totally true, too!"

"I guess...," Sweetie said, still looking profoundly uncertain as she and Scootaloo buckled up.

"Either way," Apple Bloom said, "we finally really helped someone! Sure, it wasn't exactly the way we were expectin' to do it, but I got a really good feelin' that it's a sign of things to come!"

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked at each other for a moment, then smiled. "Yeah!" they said, and the three girls stuck their hands together.

"CRUSADERS FOR JUSTICE FOREVER!"

Their shout startled Big McIntosh, who had only just slid into the driver's seat. But it faded in just a moment, and he chuckled. A minute later he was driving the truck back onto the streets, the dog food secure in the back with the rest of their purchases.


	6. Chapter 6 - Searching

**Author's Note**

Hey all! This time around, we're venturing into the lives of Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer: bad girls of the human world. Bad girls who don't know quite what they're getting themselves into this time.

Next time will be the end of the first part of the story, and will focus on Fluttershy and Mr. Discord. But for now, please enjoy Starlight and Sunset running around town and probably getting into trouble.

\- Fangren

* * *

 **Chapter 6 - Searching**

Starlight Glimmer was, for the first time in a good while, looking forward to the day. Sure, she was flat broke in an unfamiliar city and her 'riding partner' was being just as stubbornly foul-tempered as always, but none of that _really_ mattered. Not when she had a mystery to solve. And a real, tangible, surmountable one, too – not just 'why does nobody agree with me' or 'how has nobody thought of these things before'.

Oh no. This mystery wasn't like that. Sure, it didn't feel like it'd be easy to solve, but that didn't mean she wouldn't try. Come hell or high water, Starlight was determined to uncover the truth of her 'riding partner' Sunset Shimmer before they left Canterlot.

She sighed happily as she walked down the sidewalk through the worst neighborhood of the city. A passerby looked perturbed by her cheer but she didn't care; she had something to do that wasn't just the same old depressing same old. Granted, she'd still have to _do_ the same old things first – she wasn't going to get far without money and the lay of the land – but that was another thing she didn't mind. She was a great multitasker.

As she walked, she made notes of the city around her on the pocket-sized notepad she carried. The occasional fast food joint or corner store selling cheap food; rarer establishments liked used book or antique stores that struck her interest; even dumpsters and public trash cans she could dig through for returnables; any place that looked useful to her she jotted down. Even – or perhaps _especially_ – a sleazy-looking pawn shop she figured would buy just about anything with no questions asked.

She'd be visiting that establishment a lot, she suspected.

All in all, it was slow going. Granted, that was entirely by choice – she could have breezed through the city on her motorcycle if she so chose, but that wasn't her style. Too loud and flashy when she wanted to stay in the background; too fast when she wanted to take both time and notes. No, she'd leave the roaring around town for Sunset. Starlight was content just leaving her bike locked and covered in the back of their motel and going it by foot.

A crosswalk light turned green as she approached it, and she smiled at her luck. She readjusted the bag she always carried on her shoulder, tied tight and durable to dissuade thieves, and carried on through the intersection. A light breeze tussled her hair, and all she could think about was how promising the day was.

She sorely wished that Sunset Shimmer was not having nearly as good a time.

* * *

As it happened, Sunset Shimmer was enjoying herself. Or at least, she was enjoying herself as well as she could in the city that she'd grown up in, the city which she'd turned her back on all those years ago. There was a certain sense of familiarity in the scenery around her and the wind whipping across her as she sped through the city streets; it almost felt as though she'd finally come home.

But she quickly dissuaded herself of that notion. She didn't _have_ a home, she never had. Not at the orphanage, not on the streets, not even on the open road. Even the schools, where she'd been so eager to prove herself and grow better in some intangible way during her early years had only brought her frustration and disappointment in the end. But she didn't _need_ a home.

What she _needed_ was power. Power enough to do what she wanted, power enough to never be afraid. Power enough to stand up to the world and prove, once and for all, that she and she alone deserved to stand at the top of it. Power is what she craved, and power is what she lacked. She prided herself on her intelligence, her cunning, her strength, her skill, her agility, her charisma. But as great as she knew she _was_ , it had never been enough . She wasn't yet as great as she _could be_. And that is what had brought her back to Canterlot.

Well, that and logistics. But the logistics weren't important. The logistics hadn't made her _want_ to come back to the one place where someone might remember who she had once been.

That honor belonged to a series of peculiar rumors that had been floating around since last fall. Tales of supernatural occurrences, of unexplained explosions and lights. Tales of magic, and girls who wielded it. Sunset had been content to dismiss the claims as the hoaxes they obviously were; at best an elaborate prank or some kind of publicity stunt for a movie or something. She fully expected the truth to come out in due time, by force or by volition.

But it didn't. Nobody credible came forward to take credit, and no hypotheses about the initial incidents were ever proven. They weren't ever even more than a blip on the media coming out of the city. The rumor mill churned and spun its wheels, fueled by a third incident in the spring and another just at the start of summer, but still was unable to produce anything meaningful.

Until the dam broke about a week ago, when photos and videos started flooding in featuring a pair of costumed 'superheroines' that had appeared in the city. It quickly reached the level that even the tabloids began to cover it, and as loathe as she was to admit it that's when Sunset began to take the rumors seriously too.

It was ludicrous, the idea of magic. Attractive, certainly, but ludicrous. The world simply didn't work that way. She'd seen the math. But at the same time, what risk was there in investigating it for herself? It was happening in a fairly convenient location, geographically speaking. And she was completely confident that she wouldn't be caught, 'missing person' or not. And the reward, fantastical though it was, would be out of this world.

After all, if _two_ people had gotten hold of some kind of superpowers, then why couldn't a third? All she'd have to do is track them down and find out where they'd gotten the powers from, and replicate whatever it was they'd done. Not exactly the easiest task in the world, true, but Sunset knew she was up to it.

And if it really was all just a hoax like she suspected, well, then at least she'd get the pleasure of busting it herself and gloating about it online. Not the worst consolation prize, she decided.

She stopped at an intersection, but rather than searching the skyline for the superheroes she was tracking Sunset found her gaze drifting to the right. There, to her surprise, was the familiar facade of White Pine Elementary School where she'd spent much of her youth.

"Crap, why'd I have to come to _this_ part of town," she muttered through clenched teeth, stubbornly glaring up at the traffic light and willing it to turn green. But try as she might to ignore the school, she found her eyes drifting back towards it – they'd gotten a new playground installed, she noted. And as soon as she thought that, something else bubbled up from the depths of her memory.

* * *

" _Bacon-head! Bacon-head! Nerdy little bacon-head!"_

 _The chant came from a trio of jeering boys who had cornered her next to the big climber and pushed her down._

 _She grit her teeth, growled, and clenched fistfuls of gravel. "Sh-shut up!" she shouted, weakly throwing one hand's worth of pebbles at them. Most missed, but a few bounced harmlessly off their bellies or legs._

 _They laughed. "Oh yeah?" the leader challenged. "Why don't you go cry about it to your mommy?"  
_

 _She gave him the most hateful look her nine-year-old body could manage, knowing what was coming next but powerless to stop it._

" _Oh wait!" the leader said as though suddenly remembering something, mocking grins already on the faces of his buddies. "You don't have one!" All three boys broke out into raucous laughter again._

" _I...I said SHUT UP!" she screamed, pushing herself back to her feet and throwing her other hand of gravel right into the lead boy's face – open mouth and unprotected eyes included. He yelped in pain, and she took the chance to push her way past him and his stunned buddies. They yelled angry threats after her, but she didn't care. Tears and snot streaming down her face as she ran, Sunset's thought were consumed by hatred – for her tormentors, for the world, and for her own weakness._

* * *

A stream of angry honking snapped her back to the present, and a quick glance at the green light above her was all she needed to get her back going again.

The bullying hadn't stopped until she got strong enough to _make_ it stop. By then she'd realized just how cruel the world was, and just how little it wanted to take her side. If she wanted to keep herself from being beaten down, then she needed to be the one _doing_ the beating down. All the people around her that wanted her to just bare it and be a nice little girl, the teachers and the caretakers at the orphanage and all the other weakling students, they were just holding her back.

Beating her down, or holding her back. That's all anybody had ever tried to do for her. No matter how strong she got, that never seemed to change.

Which was why, as nice a consolation prize as being right would be, she wanted those powers so much more.

* * *

Starlight Glimmer was, as expected, completely lost. Not lost in the sense that she didn't know where she was or where she'd been, of course; that was basically impossible with her brilliant mind. No, she was lost in the sense that she had no idea how to get to where she wanted to go. She'd managed to document enough of the area around her motel that she was ready to move on to more interesting venues, she just hadn't yet figured out where those venues _were_.

And after nearly an hour straight of walking, she was ready for a bit of rest. She could keep going, of course, if she wanted to; she just didn't. It didn't make sense to exhaust herself on foot when she never knew when she'd have to run for it.

Plus she'd lucked into finding a few small bills or coins that had been dropped on the ground, and was eager to see what Canterlot's bus system was like. She'd heard good things about it online.

Of course, thinking practically, she wanted to make sure that nothing interesting was in the immediate area _first_. The last thing she wanted was to waste money on a one-block bus trip, after all. It would also help if she found a local to ask for directions – preferably someone naïve enough to not question why Starlight couldn't just look it up online via the smartphones that people her age were automatically assumed to have. And if she failed to find someone like that, well, she had plenty of invented excuses and fake backstory to fall back on, along with plenty of experience in lying.

She smiled to herself and stifled a giggle, thinking about how she'd do it. She'd start off by scoping out someone waiting for a bus stop; if she thought they looked easy she'd make her approach. She'd act like she was studying the route information that was posted by each one, and after a little bit she'd ask her mark if that bus would take her where she wanted to go. Probably the library; those were always good places to rest and promised easy internet access so she could get access to better maps of the city.

Her mark would probably just give her a simple answer, but if they asked questions Starlight would deflect them with practiced ease. Then she'd simply thank them for their help, and act on the directions she'd been told. It was a simple and straightforward plan, with minimal risk of anything bad happening.

She simply had to find a target.

And lucky her, she found one on her second trip around the block. It was a purple-skinned girl about her age, probably a tad younger, sitting all alone on the bus stop bench. Her thick glasses, long ponytail, and multiple heavy bags of what looked like electronic outed her as a major geek despite her feminine attire; the clothes themselves screamed upper-middle class at bare minimum. She had an air of general cluelessness about her that made Starlight smile.

She approached casually, looking at the girl only just long enough to confirm that she wasn't paying her any mind. Then Starlight began to enact her genius plan – she spent a few seconds hemming and hawwing over the bus schedule, tapping her chin in as she went over it in her head. Then, once she'd had enough of that, she let out an irritated sigh and turned around.

"Excuse me," she opened, catching the girl's attention with a friendly smile. "I'm new in town, and I could use some help getting around." She pointed at the schedule. "Do you know if I can take this bus to the library?"

"The library?" the girl repeated, clearly taken off-guard by the question as she stood up and moved for a closer look at the schedule. She adjusted her glasses and said "Oh no, at least not directly. You'll have to take this bus to 4th street," she pointed out the relevant stop on the schedule and map, "then catch the 45. That'll take you to the library."

"Rrriiiight...," Starlight said slowly, committing the instructions to memory. That step had gone smoothly, so she decided it was time for her to move on to the next step of her brilliant master plan: awkwardly waiting for the bus in silence with a stranger. "Thanks."

"No problem!" the other girl said cheerily, clasping her hands behind her back before doing the one thing Starlight didn't want her to: Continue the conversation. "It's not every day I meet someone who's trying to find the library."

"Well...," Starlight said, dearly wishing the girl would take the hint to leave her alone, "you know what they say, knowledge is power!"

She did not take the hint. "I'm Twilight Sparkle," she said, holding out her hand. "I'm too busy today to show you around the entire city, but I'll be glad to answer any questions you have while we're on the bus!"

Starlight swore, though fortunately only inside her own head. After far too much deliberation she decided to shake Twilight Sparkle's hand, though no longer than she felt was necessary. "Thanks...," she said, stalling as she frantically remembered the fake name she'd decided to use in Canterlot. "I'm, uhh, Amethyst Shine."

"Nice to meet you, Amethyst!" Twilight replied, apparently completely oblivious.

"Yeah, nice to meet you too..." Starlight said without even a tenth of the enthusiasm, much less the ability to maintain eye contact.

It was then that she heard a voice of such impossible familiarity that Starlight felt she _had_ to be mistaken. "Sorry, Twilight, they were out of the chocolate-raspberry kind so I just got you a chocolate _and_ a raspberry. I hope that's okay." Starlight finally deigned to look at the newcomer, and her jaw dropped from the sheer weight of her shock and disbelief.

Standing before her, holding two packages of some kind of snack cake, was Sunset Shimmer.

 _'No,'_ Starlight thought. _'It_ can't _be.'_

"It is," Twilight answered the new girl. "Thank you, Sunset."

Sunset.

Sunset.

 _Sunset_.

The name rang in Starlight's thoughts like a church bell, drowning out everything else for what felt like an eternity. The first thing to pierce through it was a resounding _'What?'_ , followed by an utterly stupefied _'How?'_

That was enough to unplug the rest of Starlight thoughts, and soon they were racing through her mind. _'Sunset is_ here _and she_ knows _this girl and she hasn't_ said _anything and what on_ Earth _am I supposed to do about_ any _of this?!'_

After doing several laps around that mental circuit her thoughts raced off to her mouth, and before she could stop herself she'd blurted out " _Sunset?!_ " She realized her mistake instantly and snapped her hands over her mouth lest she say anything else that was potentially incriminating, but she could tell the damage had already been done.

Twilight and the other Sunset shared a confused look. "Uh...do I...know you?" the doppelganger asked.

Then, all at once, Starlight noticed all the little details she'd missed in her shock – the different outfit and completely different style from what Sunset preferred; the long hair; the way she carried herself; the absence of a scar over her left eye; the fact that she seemed genuinely confused; the fact that she hadn't so much as glared at Starlight yet...

Starlight swore inside again. _'This isn't her!'_

"N-no!" Starlight forced herself to say, lowering her hands and laughing awkwardly. "Of course not, we've never met before in our _lives!_ "

 _'Abort! Abort! Abort!'_

"I just...thought you were someone else!" Which was the truth, and Starlight was thankful for its refuge. "Sorry," she added quickly, putting her hands behind her back and taking a slinking step backwards. "IjustrememberedIhavesomewhereelsetobe, bye!"

She turned and bolted away at top speed, all other goals forgotten in the name of escaping whatever blunder she'd just made.

 _'Twins!'_ Starlight rapidly concluded as she ran, uncaring of the pedestrians she was barging through. _'Identical twins. That_ has _to be it, why else would they look the same?'_ Her mind briefly stumbled over their shared name, but Starlight quickly overcame it. _'It's unusual, but not entirely unheard of in some larger families. That_ other _Sunset must be Sunset Radiance, or Sunset Horizon, or something like that! Though it_ is _pretty strange that they'd both go by the family name instead of their second name...'_

In the presence of something new to puzzle out and the absence of any sign that she was currently being pursued, Starlight's instincts allowed her body to slow down to a brisk walking pace. _'And come to think of it, I could've_ sworn _that Sunset Shimmer was an orphan. Maybe they were separated at birth?'_

Then a new idea bubbled up into her thoughts, one that made Starlight smile as other details began to click together. _'Or maybe I was taking her talk about not having any family too literally? Maybe she really just...ran away from them, like I did? That would explain why she didn't wanna come back here._ ' Her smile widened at her next thought. _'Oh, I can just_ imagine _her getting overshadowed by her twin sister when they were growing up, it_ totally _explains why she's so touchy about being the best.'_

And then came another thought that wiped away her smile. _'She is_ not _gonna be happy if she finds out I ran into her twin sister...'_ Starlight cast a nervous glance behind her to double-check that she wasn't being followed.

To her horror, she was – by the other Sunset, no less. A startled cry accompanied her fight-or-flight response kicking back into full flight, and once more she took off at top speed down the sidewalk.

She didn't think as she barreled through whole groups of people walking together; she didn't have the time. All Starlight could do was look for an escape route, which was no easy task on a busy and unfamiliar street – she ended up taking a risk on a random alley between some pizza place and one of the book stores she'd found earlier. She didn't have the foggiest idea what it would lead to, but she didn't care.

She actually _smiled_ when she saw it led to a dead end. ' _Perfect_ ,' she thought as she calculated the speed and distance she'd need and forced her body to adjust. And exactly when she needed to she launched herself at the wall at the end of the alley, and gripped it with her foot in just the right way to get herself moving upward. With a jump she easily managed to grab the top of the wall and scrambled the rest of the way up in seconds, flinging herself over the lip and onto the flat roof beyond.

With the sound of hurried footsteps entering the alley just moments later Starlight willed herself to be silent, inwardly thanking all that time she'd spent with that group of freerunners.

"What?! Where'd she go?!" she heard the other Sunset exclaim, and it was enough to make her smile.

Laying flat on her back while she caught her breath, Starlight pumped a fist in triumph. Then came a heavier set of footsteps, and for a moment Starlight tensed up in preparation to flee again.

She didn't have to. "What...happened?" came the voice of Twilight Sparkle, who sounded like she'd never run before in her life.

"I don't know!" the other Sunset said, and Starlight could only imagine how frantic she looked. "I _swear_ she came down here, but then it's like she just... _disappeared!_ "

"Disappeared? Do you think..." Though she heard Twilight start to reply, despite her best straining efforts Starlight couldn't make out what she said next. And for a few seconds she thought that would be it.

Then the other Sunset replied. "I don't know, maybe? I mean, I didn't _feel_ any magic being used, but what else could it be?"

"What?" Starlight mouthed to herself in sheer disbelief over what she just heard. She gave her head a shake and cleared out a speck of wax, then craned her head in as close as she felt safe to hear more.

"... _however_ she escaped, Amethyst Shine is pretty suspicious. We need to keep an eye out for her from now on," she heard the other Sunset say, and Starlight had to slap her hands over her mouth to keep her cover.

"Do you think we should tell the others about her? If nothing else, they should be able to approach her without scaring her off. I don't think she'll want to talk to us if we see her again."

Her hands still covering her mouth, Starlight's eyes widened. ' _Not good!_ '

In her panic, she nearly didn't register the other Sunset's reply. "But not right now, I'd prefer it if we _didn't_ miss the bus again."

A beat, followed by a joint exclamation, followed by the sound of two teenage girls racing out of the alleyway.

It was minutes before Starlight had calmed down enough to remove her hands and sit up. "What the _heck_ did I just get myself into?!" she asked, still clutching her heart. "Did I _seriously_ hear them assume I used _magic_ to escape?! What are they, in some kind of _cult_ or something?!"

A realization struck her hard enough that she bolted to her feet, her eyes somehow finding the room to widen even more. "They said they were gonna tell their friends to keep an eye out for me," she said, her voice barely more than a stunned whisper. Her eye twitched. "Sunset's twin sister is part of some crazy cult that believes in magic, and now they're after me." Another twitch, and she let out a pathetic little laugh. "It hasn't even been a _day_ yet."

She fell back into a sitting position, too shocked to care. "I think I'm starting to understand why Sunset didn't wanna come back here. I gotta lay low."

* * *

Sunset was about ready to take a break. Between the traffic, the irritatingly familiar sights and the memories that came with them, and the general uneventfulness of her search she was getting tired of being on the road and had shifted her focus to looking for a good spot to pull over and rest.

There was also the fact that running her bike wasn't free. If she kept wandering the city for the rest of the day she'd have to buy gas again, and her wallet wasn't exactly overflowing right now – not after the refill yesterday and paying for the motel room. And she hadn't even taken into account food yet, either...

She found a cheap burger joint and pulled into the parking lot it shared with three other businesses, but no sooner did she turn off her engine than her plans were forced to change. It was heralded by a chorus of gasps and car brakes that was just enough to turn Sunset's head; but rather than the crash she expected she caught a glimpse of something bluish fly past over the street.

It being much larger than any bird was brow-raising enough; the distinct rainbow it left in its wake may as well have been a glowing signboard reading 'FOLLOW ME' in big, blinking letters.

Sunset quickly turned her bike back on, letting it idle as she pulled a day-old tabloid clipping from the pocket of her jacket. She unfolded it to see the black-and-white pictures of her two targets, and an unearthly smile formed on her lips as she confirmed that she'd just seen one of them.

Without hesitation she stuffed the clipping back into her pocket, turned her bike around, and roared back onto the street.

* * *

Even on her motorcycle it was hard for Sunset to keep up with the superhero girl, who she decided must have some level of super-speed in addition to the flying. She did take consolation in the fact that the rainbow trail made her easier to track, though, as well as the fact that other people were on her trail as well. She had noticed the various groups of nerdy-looking paparazzi roaming the city when she'd still been searching, but now that she was actively chasing as well she could better see what they had been doing.

From what she could tell, the packs had spread out enough to see hero-girl no matter where she flew. And they were communicating with each other, so that when one pack was on the trail they'd tell the other groups so that they could converge.

And once she realized _that_ , Sunset was baffled by the level of coordination they had. It was effective, yes, but she would have expected them to be more cutthroat and competitive in their bids to break such a fantastical story. She wasn't complaining, since it made her life easier – follow the photogs to find the hero-girl – but it made her suspicious.

She could figure it out later, she decided. No time to waste puzzling over other people's motives when she should be paying attention to the road and the skies.

But even with her full focus on tracking the girl down, Sunset was having trouble keeping up. Sometimes she would spot the rainbow trail and speed off to follow it, only to spot the roving paparazzi headed in the direction she'd come from after only a few turns. Other times the trail would go cold entirely, even the packs of nerds looking lost as to where their target was. Sunset took solace in the fact that while they seemed to devolve into frustration during those brief cold period, she welcomed the challenge.

' _She can_ fly _, you idiots,_ ' she thought to herself as she waited at a stoplight, watching one of the packs argue over where they should go next. ' _Of_ course _she's gonna be hard to follow!_ '

It was at the end of one such cold period that she got her next lead – an angry shout from a couple blocks ahead, followed by the squeal of tires and honking of horns that implied a barely-avoided accident. Sunset quickly spotted the familiar rainbow trail over a row of buildings on her right and sped off in pursuit, no longer bothering to follow the rules of the road.

And as she drew closer she saw another figure, this one dressed in purples with a long and billowing cape, leap into the intersection she was approaching. But by the time Sunset recognized her from the picture in her pocket, the other superhero had somehow disappeared – spinning in mid-air one moment, gone the next. It shocked Sunset enough that she nearly lost control of her bike; had incoming traffic not been stopped at a red light, she would've been in trouble.

"AAGH! Darn it, not again!" she heard the rainbow-trail-girl shout from the rooftop of the bagel shop that purple-cape had leaped from. "GET BACK HERE AND FACE ME!" she added before taking off like a shot.

Sunset's smile, dark and excited, was hidden by the gleam from her helmet as she sped up and took off through the busy street. She quickly passed the gaggle of rubberneckers and photographers that had picked up the chase as well.

* * *

Surprisingly, Sunset had little trouble keeping the flying one in sight after that. For whatever reason the girl had decided to stick mostly to flying above the streets, and the area she'd flown into was a more run-down and thus less-traveled part of the city. Without traffic to slow her down, Sunset was able to keep a good pace behind the rainbow flier. Even a sudden left turn hadn't been enough to shake her.

Though when she unexpectedly dove into an alleyway seemingly at random, Sunset was forced to pause and think for a moment. ' _Where_ exactly _is this girl going, anyway? If she has some hideout in there, that'll be a problem. The last thing I want is to leave my bike out in the open..._ '

Fortunately for her, the memory of hero-girl's earlier cry came back to her and she smirked. ' _So she's chasing that other one, huh? Interesting..._ ' An unspoken decision made, Sunset sped off again to get around the block before she lost track of her target.

* * *

She had underestimated the difficulty of tailing something that was flying through the alleys from the confines of her bike. Sure, every now and then she got a glimpse of that strange rainbow trail the hero-girl left in her wake, but Sunset had to struggle just to get even those. The only thing that saved her temper was the fact that her target seemed to be searching each block systematically; so long as Sunset could figure out which block she'd look through next, she figured she was fine.

Her diligence paid off when she turned a corner expecting to see a rainbow cutting across the road, only to see the girl flying off into the sky. And from the looks of it, she was flying away from someone else – another teenage girl by the looks of it, with pale blue skin and bright white hair. For a moment Sunset considered stopping to question the girl about what she'd seen and what she knew, but just as quickly she decided against it. After all, who knew what that girl's relationship to her target was? And she might not get anything useful without intimidation, and Sunset wanted to keep her profile on the low side right now.

That didn't stop Sunset from sparing her a glance as she passed by to memorize her face in case the trail went cold. And as she did, for a split second time seemed to slow to a crawl around her. What little air she could feel between her helmet and gloves and jacket felt strange, and she swore the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. But just as soon as she noticed the moment had passed, and she was speeding off after hero-girl again.

' _Strange...,_ ' Sunset thought as she struggled to keep one eye on the road and the other on the fading rainbow trail. ' _I'm_ definitely _gonna have to look into that girl too._ '

* * *

It took Sunset a little longer than she liked to find the rainbow-girl again, but she did manage to track her to a prominent office building nearby. For a scant few moments she let her hopes rise that she'd finally found the super-powered girl's hideout; she had stopped on top of it after all. But even from as far away as Sunset was she could still tell the heroine was simply sitting on a ledge, and once she realized that it occurred to her that this was probably just some kind of break.

' _Would you hurry up and go back to your hideout already?_ ' Sunset thought, her mind stewing in anger as she idled in a parking space. ' _The sooner I find it, the sooner I can case it for clues on how to get my_ own _powers._ '

The rainbow superhero made her move not long after, but not for the reasons Sunset had expected – a piercing siren rang through the air, and the do-gooder took off shortly after hearing it. Sunset did not.

Instead she swore, her blood running cold as she continued to idle on the side of the street. She recognized the siren and what it meant, for while she'd never been desperate or stupid enough to try robbing a bank herself she'd been unlucky enough to be nearby when one happened before. More importantly she knew that the alarm would inevitably bring a swarm of cops, and the last thing she wanted was to be around law enforcement at the scene of the crime.

' _But I don't wanna lose track of her, either,_ ' she argued as she put her bike in gear. ' _And I wanna see what she can do in a fight..._ '

She stewed over it for a little while longer until her patience finally wore out and her temper flared. "You know what? Screw it," she said to herself. "I'm not afraid of being around some _cops_. Not after I've made it this far, and not when I have so much to gain from checking it out. I'm Sunset _freaking_ Shimmer, I can do anything!"

Now pumped-up with confidence, Sunset revved her bike and tore back onto the road.

* * *

A couple minutes later Sunset arrived at the bank the alarm was coming, and grimaced at what she saw – a crowd. Most of them looked to be simple passersby attracted by the commotion rather than the roaming hordes of hero-chasers, but that made little difference. She couldn't see through them either way, and that was a problem she'd have to solve quickly.

And solve it quickly she did. She turned her bike around and doubled-back a little ways until she found a secluded alleyway that was wide enough to park her bike in. Taking the tarp she always kept in the trunk out she covered it as best she could so it wouldn't attract any unwanted attention, and once she convinced herself it was safe she made her way back towards the robbery-in-progress. But rather than join the crowd, she opted to scale a shorter building and get a bird's-eye view from its roof.

She got into position just in time to see the rainbow-colored heroine fly out from behind a car at a pair of masked men who were already trying to fight the purple hero with the cape. A gunshot, a few kicks, and a flying clothesline later, and the purple hero shoved the other one aside so she could tie up the bad guys with some kind of magic rope.

"Hmph," Sunset snorted, crouched down at the edge of the roof. "That's it? Don't tell me I missed everything..."

Shortly after deciding that she must have, Sunset's blood ran cold as a new sound rang through the air – that of police sirens on the approach. She began to move away from the scene, but a strange shape moving through the crowd of gawkers gave her pause. She allowed herself a glance back at it and realized it was someone walking a number of dogs that bordered on absurd. Stubborn curiosity alone caused her to linger long enough to see the man and his pack approach the two heroines to collect a dog that had gotten loose, and then leave when the police finally turned up.

Sunset watched him leave for just a little too long, long enough that he seemed to notice her watching. Though she ducked back down the moment he turned his head she didn't think she had been quick enough, but by the time she looked back he had already moved on. Movement from the crime scene then caught her attention and Sunset looked back to see the caped heroine leaping away. With the rainbow-colored girl staying put and police swarming the area, Sunset took that as her cue to leave.

As quickly as she could she crawled back along the roof to the alleyway, dropping down once she'd confirmed that the coast was clear. A bit more stealth and caution got her back to her bike. The sight of it being just the way she'd left it settled her nerves a bit, and it was with confidence that she stowed the tarp and maneuvered her way back to a road. She left the bike for another brief moment, just long enough to stick her head out and see what was around; seeing nothing, Sunset scurried back to her baby and drove back into the open.

A minute later, once she was free and clear and lost in the crowd of city traffic, she allowed herself to smile. " _Easy_ ," she said to herself as she came to a stop, her voice unheard amongst the idling engines.

Her smile soon faded, though. "Though now I gotta find one of those stupid superheroes again," she muttered. She thought back to the caped one's departure from the scene, remembering which direction she had gone and comparing it to her mental map of Canterlot. "Guess that's my next lead," she said starting to plan out the route she'd have to take to get back on the trail.

Then her stomach rumbled in protest of a skipped breakfast, and she groaned. "Or, maybe I can go scrounge up some lunch money. Great." A new goal in mind, Sunset adjusted her route and sped off at the first opportunity.


	7. Chapter 7 - The Limits of Kindness

**Author's Note**

It's been awhile, hasn't it? I spent November writing for a pony-centric variant of NaNoWriMo, and managed to meet my goal of 30k. I've only just managed to get all the chapters I've written for it edited, and you'll see them over the coming weeks - well, the ones for _Synchrony_ , anyway. The others are for a continuity that I haven't published on this site.

Anyway. This chapter marks the end of the first arc of the story, and features Fluttershy and Mr. Discord! The cycle will begin again next chapter, starting with a check-in with all the cast members and continuing on from there.

But for now, enjoy!

\- Fangren

* * *

 **Chapter 7 – The Limits of Kindness**

Fluttershy was not having a very nice morning. Granted, she hadn't had many lately to begin with, but this one in particular had not at all turned out like she wanted. Her plan to squeeze an extra hour of tranquility out of her time at the Rescue Center had been foiled by the early arrival of the very man she was trying to avoid, and things had only gone downhill from there.

Part of her was even beginning to sour on sticking around, and that horrified her. She _loved_ animals, and loved helping them. The sheer fact that _anything_ could make her want to avoid the Rescue Center was nearly enough to bring her to tears.

She was putting out a fresh batch of pamphlets in the front area when a crash of metal and an angry hiss came from the backroom at a volume loud enough to make her flinch. And immediately afterward, she tensed up in anticipation of what would surely come next.

The door to the back opened a crack, and Mr. Discord leaned out of it with a few light scratches on his otherwise-smiling face. He looked around theatrically with his one good eye before finally pretending to notice Fluttershy standing right in front of him. "Oh, Fluttershy, _there_ you are!" he said, voice oily and smirk bright.

"What is it this time, Mr. Discord?" Fluttershy asked, utterly resigned.

"Oh, it isn't _much_ ," he replied, waving his hand dismissively. "It's just that I'm having _difficulty_ trimming Mr. Piddles' claws. It seems he doesn't like it for some reason!" He slapped a hand lightly against his cheek as though he were genuinely shocked. "Be a dear and help an old man with the proper procedure. Pretty please?" he asked, fluttering his eyelashes in an almost disgusting manner.

Fluttershy sighed. "Okay, Mr. Discord, if you really still need the help..." She took a step towards the door, then paused suddenly. She blinked, and Mr. Discord's grin widened as her brow furrowed. "Hey," she said in an accusing tone, turning her gaze towards him. "Mr. Discord, you _know_ Mr. Piddles had his claws trimmed yesterday! He won't need another trim for another two weeks!"

Mr. Discord's mouth went round with feigned shock, and once more he gave his cheek a light slap. "Why, I do believe you're right Fluttershy! Oh, silly me for forgetting so soon. What _am_ I going to do with myself?" He grinned under Fluttershy's stern look. "Well, I suppose that explains why Mr. Piddles was so reluctant," he reasoned, idly stroking his goatee. "Though I'm not _entirely_ to blame, all the little kitty-cats just blend together after awhile, am I right?"

He looked to Fluttershy for confirmation, but received only a stern frown. "No," Fluttershy told him. "Not if you take the time to get to know each one, anyway." She began to walk to the doorway, and when she opened it wide and added "Which you _haven't_ ," Discord stepped aside without a word.

It only took a second for the smirk to reappear on his face. "Oh, you have me there, Fluttershy," he said in his usual half-mocking tone. "But you will be happy to note that I have at least restocked all the supply cabinets and organized all the clutter." He finished with a satisfied nod.

Fluttershy immediately turned a suspicious look towards him. "Really?"

"Scout's honor," he replied just as quickly, grabbing one strap of his overalls and making the Scout's sign with his other hand.

Fluttershy had expected the cabinets and drawers to be in near-disarray, organized only according to some cryptic schema that existed solely in Mr. Discord's imagination. What she found was genuine order, from the supply room to the treatment rooms. Everything was exactly where it should be.

"Well?" Mr. Discord asked, leaning over her with an almost angelic smile on his face as he tried to look at hers. "Do you like it? Oh, _please_ tell me you like it, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy stared at the non-mess for a good minute before her uncertainty manifested as a distinct "Umm..." It took a little bit more before she added "Yes. Thank you, Mr. Discord."

He stepped around in front of her, now looking nearly concerned. "I'm sensing a 'but', Fluttershy," he said. He raised a brow and added, in a goading tone, "Come now, if there's something you'd like to say, then say it! I may be old, but I can handle a little criticism."

He was answered by a raised eyebrow and pursed lips, skepticism radiating from the entirety of Fluttershy. He grinned and fluttered his lashes, and so she sighed.

" _But_ ," she said, pausing and waving her hand vaguely, "it's just... unexpected. That's all. Umm, no offense Mr. Discord, but you don't seem like, umm, the _tidiest_ person."

By the way he sharply gasped and clutched at his chest, one who didn't know the man would be convinced Mr. Discord had just had a heart attack. And with how he let himself begin to fall backwards, Fluttershy was nearly convinced herself. But soon enough he took a step back to save himself, moved the back of his free hand to his forehead, and wailed in melodramatic agony.

"You _wound_ me, Fluttershy!" he said, leaning back as far as his body would allow.

Fluttershy let out another light sigh, and began to move past him towards the door to the animal cages.

"I'll have you know that simply because I happen to have idiosyncratic tastes in organization," Mr. Discord explained as he followed after her, "does _not_ mean I am unable to make use of more _traditional_ methods. Not only that, but you ought to be _grateful_ to me for suppressing my natural inclinations and organizing things to suit _your_ needs!"

Fluttershy stopped at the door, one hand on the knob, and sighed again. "Sorry, Mr. Discord," she said, unable to stop her eyes from rolling.

He didn't seem to care. "Apology accepted, my dear," he said, bending down and smiling.

It was then that the pair heard Dr. Rescue's voice call from a couple rooms away. "Fluttershy! You have visitors!"

She blinked in confusion. "Visitors?" she repeated, automatically pulling her phone from her pocket to check for missed messages – and finding none. "Who would come to visit me?"

"Well, I suppose you'd better go find out then, shouldn't you!" Mr. Discord said with an expression of pure delight, scooting her forward and taking her place by the door. As she turned to look back at him, he grabbed the knob. "And don't worry about me," he said. "I'll simply be preparing to give all the precious little doggies their morning-" he deliberately opened the door and leaned into the room beyond with an impish grin- " _walkies!_ "

He hooted with laughter at the chorus of excited barks that rose up.

Fluttershy sighed in resignation. "Okay, Mr. Discord. Just... be careful with them."

"Don't worry, Fluttershy," he told her, "I won't do a _thing_ that you wouldn't. I _promise_." He made the Scout's sign again.

He got a skeptical look from Fluttershy, but another call from Dr. Rescue got her to sigh again and finally leave the room.

When she got back to the front room, Fluttershy let out a small gasp of surprise when she saw who was waiting for her. "Principal Celestia? Vice-Principal Luna? What are you two doing here?"

"Unfortunately, it is for neither business _nor_ pleasure," Luna answered, arms crossed and tone severe. The two sisters were standing in the Center's lobby with Dr. Rescue, and neither of the three women looked particularly pleased about it. Even Principal Celestia looked uneasy, though she put on a smile when she noticed Fluttershy looking at her.

"I wish I could say we're simply here to adopt a pet," she said as she walked towards Fluttershy, "but I'm afraid my sister is right. An old friend of ours told us about who recently started volunteering here-" Fluttershy's brow shot up at that- "and we decided it would be best if we stopped by and gave you some advice for dealing with him."

"You... you two _know_ Mr. Discord?" Fluttershy asked, looking between the sisters in shock.

Dr. Rescue laughed. "Know 'em? Fluttershy, these two are the ones that got him thrown in _jail_."

"Well, it's not like we did all by _ourselves_ ," Celestia said with a bashful chuckle.

"Though we _were_ the ones that delayed his escape long enough for the police to arrest him," Luna said. "And we _did_ provide crucial evidence that led to his conviction."

" _True_ ," the elder sister admitted. "But that's beside the point." She looked back at Fluttershy. "Which is that Vice-Principal Luna and I know quite a lot about Mr. Discord, and can help you work with him more easily."

"Oh, I'd greatly appreciate that," Fluttershy said, enthusiasm filling her with every nod she gave. "I mean, if you're sure you can spare the time. I wouldn't want to pull you away from anything important just to help me."

"Trust us," Luna said. "There is little we'd like to do more today than prevent Mr. Discord from harming one of our students."

" _Harm?_ " The word had alarmed Fluttershy, caused her to stand up straighter and shoot a quick and fearful glance at the door to the back rooms. "He," she continued at a whisper as she looked back at the sisters with wide eyes, "he's not going to... to _hurt_ me, is he?"

"Not in the way you're imagining, no." Dr. Rescue was the first to answer, but her snort of contempt did nothing to alleviate Fluttershy's mood and so she quickly looked to Celestia and Luna again. They shared a look, and after words unspoken Celestia turned her smile to Fluttershy once more.

"He never _was_ one to get physical," Luna chimed in, her eyes drifting downward as they were lost in memory. "Even at the height of his anger, the most he ever did was shove us out of the way so he could escape. However-" she turned her gaze, now sharp, back at her student- "there are more ways to harm someone than simply injuring them. Mr. Discord delights in turning people against each other, whether they were business partners, friends, or even family."

For a moment Luna's eyes darted away again, and Fluttershy swore she saw something like shame in them. But just like that she was drawn back to the Vice-Principal's fierce gaze, and she said nothing.

"Or even themselves," Celestia added, eying her sister. But she, too, soon turned her focus back to Fluttershy, and even leaned forward to place a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Which is why it's important not to keep your feelings to yourself, and instead communicate them to those around you. If Mr. Discord ever makes you feel bad about yourself, talk about it with those you love."

"And if he ever tries to tell you something _about_ those you love," Luna added, "whether it is bad or even good, make sure to ask them about it _before_ jumping to conclusions. Never be afraid to speak to those you care for about your feelings, no matter what they are. Do you understand?"

Fluttershy looked into her eyes for what felt to the girl like forever, before finally nodding. "I understand, Vice-Principal Luna."

The sisters smiled. "It is good to hear that, Fluttershy," Luna said. "And-"

Whatever she was about to say was lost in a sea of delighted barks and pants as a veritable horde of dogs burst through the door to the back, controlled only questionably by Mr. Discord. He himself entered the room with a broad grin on his face and his eyes closed, and in a pleased tone of voice he said "Pardon me, I hope I'm not interrupting anything but I simply _must_ take care of these dogs."

Then he opened his eyes and saw Celestia and Luna glaring at him. Instantly, his grin dropped away and a scowl took its place. He planted his heels on the linoleum floor, stopping the dogs in their tracks despite their insistence on moving forward.

"Well. Well. _Well_ ," he said, voice dripping with loathing. "If it isn't the teenaged wonder-detectives, all grown up."

"Yes. It is," Luna said shortly. She and Celestia continued to glare at him.

Mr. Discord returned it with equal intensity.

Dr. Rescue, not caring that she wasn't the focus of Mr. Discord's ire, glared at him as well.

Fluttershy, torn between her anxiety in the face of a confrontation and genuine curiosity about the adults in her life, shrunk back slightly but still managed to quickly shift her wary gaze between the others.

And the dogs, too distracted by two strangers and a good number of friends all in close quarters to pick up on the humans' moods, continued to sniff and lick and play to their happy hearts' content.

"Here to _meddle_ in affairs that aren't your own, I take it?" Mr. Discord asked after a tense moment.

"We're _here_ to check in with a student of ours," Celestia replied, not taking her eyes off him.

"Ahh yyyeeeeesssss...," he said with a slow, deliberate deviousness that curled the edges of his mouth. "I'd _heard_ that the two of you took the plunge into the vast and _fulfilling_ world of high school education. Not exactly the path _I_ would have pursued, of course, given _your_ heritage." He looked at Celestia as he said this, then gave his nails a bored glance and sighed lightly. "But, you do you!" He finished with a smile that failed to amuse.

He turned his attention to Luna next. "By the way, Luna," he told her with a sinister and knowing look in his eyes, "did you _ever_ manage to get out from your dear sister's shadow?" He was answered only by her continued glare, which only made him smile more. "No? Well, I'm _sure_ you'll do so eventually."

"Now if you'll excuse me," he said, giving the mass of leashes a tug that brought the curious crowd of canines back to attention, "I have a _walk_ to take. Later, ladies!" He tugged the leashes again, and departed with a quick over-the-head wave.

It wasn't until after the door swung shut and the sound of the dogs faded that someone finally spoke again.

"Wow. I get the feeling that he _really_ doesn't like the two of you," Fluttershy said, all of them still watching the door.

Luna snorted. "I cannot imagine he ever wouldn't."

"Not after the way you two destroyed the life he'd built for himself," Dr. Rescue said. Then she snorted too. "Though I'm sure he'd have carried a grudge against you even if he'd gotten away. He doesn't strike me as being the most forgiving person."

"He isn't," Luna said, gaze far off and voice once more filled with the certainty brought by experience. "All that Mr. Discord cares about are his own selfish desires, and he will do everything he can to _crush_ those who get in the way of them."

Fluttershy frowned, looking down at the floor in thought. "He really doesn't care about anyone but himself?" she wondered aloud, not noticing the three adults turning their heads. "I don't understand how someone could get that way."

"I believe it's simply a case of him having never had anyone _to_ care about," Celestia answered, "or that cared about him. I delved into his personal history back when Vice-Principal Luna and I were investigating him, and what I discovered painted a picture of a man who had been forced since a young age to rely entirely on _himself_ to survive. He has no family, and as far as I can tell he's never had any true friends either. Anyone he's ever pretended to get close to he's either betrayed, or been betrayed _by_."

It was a good minute before Fluttershy replied, not even bothering to look up as she murmured "Wow..."

She said no more, but didn't need to. Seeing her thoughtful frown, Celestia placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and smiled when she looked up. "Your kindness is admirable, Fluttershy. But you mustn't forget that while Mr. Discord's past explains the person he is today, they do not _excuse_ his actions. His choices were his own-" her smile became more grim and her eyes more distant and sad- "and the consequences _his_ to suffer."

"I understand," Fluttershy answered after a moment, dully and meekly.

"Good," Luna said, voice crisp and gaze pointed. "Now, if you have the time, my sister and I have several more pieces of advice that we'd like to give you for dealing with Mr. Discord."

"Oh," Fluttershy said, lifting her head in surprise and immediately looking to Dr. Rescue.

"Go ahead," she nodded in reply to the unspoken question. "I can handle things myself for a little while. I'll even let you three take your discussion to the back."

"Thank you, Dr. Rescue," Celestia told her, hand still on Fluttershy's shoulder. "Mr. Discord may not be as much of a menace as he was decades ago, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't stick together."

The other two adults responded, but their words were lost to Fluttershy. As she was gently guided to the back rooms, all she could think about were how lonely and friendless Mr. Discord had been, and how Sunset and Twilight had once been, and what could have – _would_ have – happened to them without the influence of her and her friends.

Mr. Discord was most definitely and certainly _not_ angry right now. Irked, perhaps, even peeved. But not _angry_. That would be undignified! And besides, what did he even have to be angry about? It was a perfectly pleasant day as far as the weather was concerned, and even with all the un-fun restrictions the Five-O had slapped him with he was still enjoying his well-earned freedom. So what if those two meddlers who had put him in jail all those years again had shown their faces for the sole purpose of making his life more difficult? It was hardly anything to get _angry_ about.

Of course, to the common man in all his irreparable ignorance it would no doubt _appear_ that Mr. Discord was angry. What with the scowl, the furrowed brow, the muttering under the breath, and the one good eye fixated on some far-off source of ire and all. Then again, the common man likely wouldn't stay in front of Mr. Discord long enough to notice and the fools that tried would in short order be distracted by the tight pack of canines trying to subsume them.

The dogs, Mr. Discord decided as they led him on their collective walk around the city, were another good thing about the day. He'd never had a pet back during his glory days spreading chaos around the country; he had no need for companionship nor desire to lug around another mouth to feed. But caring for what amounted to other people's pets this past week had been a delight. The dogs especially; they were energetic, playful, and oh so trusting. In other words, a veritable wellspring of untapped chaotic potential!

Safe to say, he had _plans_ for the dogs. Particularly once he got the hang of the more advanced training techniques.

But for now, taking a score of rambunctious canines for walkies around Canterlot was providing more than enough entertainment to make up for the earlier bit of sourness at the Center. Not that he was dwelling on that or anything. Because he wasn't.

Watching hapless pedestrians get assaulted by his pack while he pretended to be oblivious just never got old. Neither did 'accidentally' trodding on the fallen schmucks as he, too, moved past. He always made a show of stopping to help them up, of course. Didn't want people getting the wrong idea, after all. He wasn't acting maliciously, as he repeatedly swore, he was simply a doddering old coot! Perfectly harmless. Aside from the dogs which he could _barely_ control of course, he said as he stealthily commanded them to proceed onward and thus drag him off in demonstration of his point. It worked every time.

"Honestly, for all the talk of progress and a more well-informed populace," he allowed himself to whisper aloud when he was away from prying ears, "the people of this city are just as _gullible_ as they were the last time I was roaming around freely." The corners of his mouth curled upwards, and he used the pretext of checking the cheap watch he wore to glance behind him.

Just as expected, someone was following a fair distance behind him. Oh, certainly, the man was trying to _seem_ like he was simply minding his own business, but Mr. Discord knew better. Even from a quick glimpse he could tell the brown-skinned, yellow-haired man's body language was all wrong for the average pedestrian just wanting to get to wherever they needed to be, and all _right_ for someone who didn't want to be noticed. The fact that he'd stopped when Mr. Discord had, and resumed walking shortly after Mr. Discord as well, was all the proof that was needed.

It made Mr. Discord smile. "If that's the level of tail the cops are putting on me," he muttered to himself, "either they've gone soft or they _truly_ understand that I only want a peaceful life right now. Relatively speaking, at least."

Questions of police competency aside, however, the fact that he was being watched at all gave Mr. Discord an obligation to toe the line. He didn't want to give the coppers a pretense to throw him back into Tartarus State Penitentiary, after all. Fortunately for him (and, of course, the general populace) he knew the law of the land like the back of his own fake eye; he sincerely doubted that even with his dog-walking mischief that the world would be robbed of his genius self once again. At the very least nobody was bearing down on him at the moment.

And so things continued for Mr. Discord. He kept walking, the dogs kept mowing down everything in their path in the name of playful curiosity, and the tail kept tailing. And it never truly got old.

He lucked upon a crosswalk that had just gotten the right-of-way, and let his pack steer itself into the street. As he'd hoped a contingent of them veered off to investigate the closest idling car, a convertible ridden by two fair-skinned girls, and Mr. Discord reveled in the driver's horrified reaction. Her eyes met his, and in his barely-contained mirth he smiled and waved.

"Don't mind us," he said. "Dogs will be dogs, you know, and who am I to stop them?"

As though reading his mind, a retriever took the opportunity just then to relieve himself on the convertible's front bumper. The purple-haired driver's horror was more than doubled, of course, but Mr. Discord showed none of his glee. Instead, he simply pieced together an idea of who these two were and what they were doing – both dressed nearly to the nines and in completely different styles; faces too dissimilar to be close relatives; each wearing a simple necklace consisting of a single colored crystal of some sort. Driving through this part of town on a Saturday morning when, to Mr. Discord's knowledge, there were no major social events at the time, meant they likely had somewhere _special_ they were going to.

Whether as friends or even lovers he didn't know, but that didn't stop him from offering a hearty "You two just enjoy your day!" before laughing and moving along. Sadly, with the stoplights threatening to change colors any second, he was unable to give the dogs time to investigate anything else before they reached the safety of the sidewalk.

Still, he was in a good enough mood to spare a few thoughts towards the Rescue Center situation. No doubt those two do-gooders were inoculating Fluttershy against some of his tactics, which was going to make his volunteer work a little less fun. Oh, he'd do his best to get under her skin regardless; even with outside help the girl was practically a doormat after all. And he'd succeed, of course, given enough time, but he'd have to proceed cautiously. One wrong move would undoubtedly land him back in prison.

He'd have to start looking for other places to get the sort of fun he wanted out of life.

The Principal and Vice-Principal had left about fifteen minutes ago, leaving Fluttershy to stew in their stories and advice. Dr. Rescue had kindly offered her a reprieve for the rest of the morning, but she'd declined – the unexpected visit had put her behind schedule as it was, and she didn't want to leave Dr. Rescue to run the entire Center by herself.

"Besides," she reasoned, "several of the dog cages need cleaning and now's the perfect time to do so!"

Dr. Rescue relented, and so it was that Fluttershy now found herself clambering about on her hands and knees scrubbing out the insides of cages. She soon began to hum as she cleaned, her heart filled with a peaceful sort of happiness that had been in short supply that week. Fluttershy was in her element, and she wasn't going to let anyone disturb her from it.

Which naturally caused her thoughts to drift back to Mr. Discord and what she'd learned about him. She just didn't know what to make of him; he'd done so many terrible things but at the same time knowing how lonely he must have felt throughout his entire long life tugged at Fluttershy's heartstrings.

She sighed, and pulled herself out of the cage she'd just scrubbed spotless. "It's no use thinking about him when I have work to do," she told herself. Standing up, she inspected the other cages and wiped away a few spots she'd missed. None of the cages with animals still in them were due for cleaning, so after a couple light minutes of smalltalk with the furry friends inside she disposed of her gloves in a hidden wastebasket and washed up at the room's small sink.

"Now let's see...," she thought aloud, looking around the room. "The cleaning is done, and everything's organized. There's still some time before lunch, so..."

Fluttershy wanted that to mean play time, the very best part of working with animals. Sure, most of them were there because they were sick or injured, but that didn't mean they couldn't play a little. She just had to make sure they did so gently.

However, she had the feeling she'd forgotten something important and didn't want to start playing until she knew what it was.

"Hmm...," she murmured, tapping her chin as she thought. She started walking around the room in silence, looking for anything that would jog her memory. The charts for the animals showed nothing out of place, the drawers and cabinets were just as organized as Mr. Discord had left them, there were no signs that anything had been broken, the food-

The food. Fluttershy blinked, then turned back to the food cabinet she'd just closed. She swung the doors back open, and sure enough every type of food was accounted for. But something was still nibbling at her subconscious, so she systematically began to check all of them just the same.

"A- _ha!_ " she declared in triumph, grabbing a bag of kibble that was deceptively close to being empty. Sure, with the current load of animals in the Center's care it would hold out for another day or two easily, but Fluttershy wasn't about to risk some poor doggie with strict dietary needs being checked into their care only to not have food immediately available. It was a disaster waiting to happen, and she intended on averting it.

Especially because, upon further checks, she discovered three other types of food they were running low on.

It was time for a trip to the pet store.

Dr. Rescue had readily agreed to let Fluttershy handle the shopping, and had even given her some cash to buy the food with. Fluttershy guarded it dearly all the way to the bus stop for fear of accidentally dropping it. The bus ride itself was nothing out of the ordinary; she kept the bag she'd brought to carry the food in on her lap even though the bus wasn't crowded.

As she waited for her stop to approach, Fluttershy let her mind wander back to Mr. Discord once again. He was a jerk, and what's more she _knew_ he was a jerk. She hadn't been so certain at first, even after their disastrous first meeting, as he had done a good job of seeming nice – or at least pleasant – for some time after that. But that, as she now knew all too well, had only been a way to get her to lower her guard towards him. Then he started the meanness, the 'pranks', the coy 'I honestly don't know what you're talking about' deflections where he really _did_ know what she was talking about. She wasn't born yesterday, she knew when people were picking on her.

Then he'd go back to being relatively nice, to the point where she began doubting whether he was really that malicious after all. Only for him to get her again, and again, and again. And as much as she wanted to see the best in everyone, he made it so hard to do that Fluttershy had just about written him off as a lost cause. Dr. Rescue had told her to treat Mr. Discord like nothing more than an unrepentant conman, and Fluttershy had been doing just that.

And then the Principal and Vice-Principal had come in and changed everything, without intending or even realizing it. How could she possibly turn her back on somebody who had always been alone? Somebody who had never the chance to learn about friendship? It didn't sit right with her, not when she'd become such good friends with Twilight Sparkle and even Sunset Shimmer, who even just a year ago had relentlessly bullied her too. Sure, her friends were much younger than Mr. Discord, and had never truly been alone in their lives. But both girls had been friendless when Fluttershy met them, and both girls no longer were. If it could happen to them, why couldn't it happen to Mr. Discord?

Fluttershy knew it was a longshot at best, the past week had made that clear enough. But she still thought that everyone deserved a second chance, and when else was Mr. Discord going to get one but now? Especially since he seemed to genuinely fear being sent back to prison.

But still, Fluttershy had her doubts. Everyone, the Principals included, seemed set on Mr. Discord's irredeemability. How could Fluttershy possibly make a difference, then? It's not like she was Princess Twilight, or even Sunset. She was just...little old Fluttershy, barely able to stand up for herself.

She got off the bus at the correct stop, but depressed. She hung her head and sighed as she began the final leg to Plushie's Pet Supplies, hoping that she'd be able to take her mind off Mr. Discord again once she was inside.

She wasn't able to. Not at first, anyway; her mind just kept going through the same patterns it had on the bus. And before she could get beyond lingering inside the store entrance, someone called out to her.

"Hey Fluttershy, what's up?"

The suddenness of it startled her into squeaking, and with her anxious nerves already worked up over Mr. Discord her hands went to the geode around her neck out of instinct alone.

"Is something wrong?" said another young girl.

"Cause it seems like something's wrong," added a third. It was then that Fluttershy realized she was talking to her friends' little sisters (though only in spirit for one of the three).

"Oh, hi girls," Fluttershy finally replied, allowing herself to relax a little as she quickly processed what they'd asked. "Umm, I don't know if I'd say something's _wrong_ , exactly," she decided to tell them with a fair amount of nervousness, unsure whether it was a lie or not. "But, well... I suppose today hasn't gone like I _expected_ it to, either..." That, at least, she knew was an understatement.

"Is it anything we can help with?" Sweetie Belle asked, her and her friends leaning forward with such wide smiles that Fluttershy couldn't help but feel more anxious.

She really didn't want to get them involved in her troubles; they were young and nice and didn't deserve to be bothered by her mixed feelings about Mr. Discord. But at the same time, their eagerness tugged at her heartstrings, and they _did_ seem like they really wanted to help her...

"Umm, well, I guess so, if you really want to that is..."

"We want to!" Apple Bloom said, ending with a decisive nod. "Trust me!"

"Yeah, we've been looking for people to help all morning!" Scootaloo added.

Fluttershy smiled. "Oh, well, in that case, I'd be glad to give you someone to help..."

The problem, she decided, was figuring out exactly _what_ to tell them. She didn't think they'd know who Mr. Discord even was, and she didn't want to cause them unnecessary worry by telling them she was working with a convicted felon. Not only that, but she also felt that doing so would only make it harder for him to truly reform – if she ever decided to help him do so, that is.

"Umm, well," she finally said, "I guess the main thing is that I'm not sure how to handle this person that I work with at the animal shelter. He's a bit of a handful, not at _all_ the type of person I'm comfortable being around. But I can't _not_ be around him either, and I've been given some, well, conflicting advice on how to deal with him."

Apple Bloom began to rub her chin in thought. "Hmm, sounds like quite the pickle."

"Yeah, you should probably start by telling us exactly what he's been doing," Scootaloo added.

Fluttershy was going to do just that when Sweetie Belle suddenly stuck an arm out in front of her friends. "Wait," she said before giving Fluttershy a confusing look. "Before that, this isn't one of those things where we assume you're talking about a human but you're really talking about like a dog or something, is it?"

It took Fluttershy a little bit to process the question, unexpected as it was. She had a vague sort of feeling why it had been asked, though, so she didn't take offense. Instead, she smiled. "Oh no, I'm talking about a human. All the dogs at the shelter _love_ me, and I love them."

Sweetie Belle smiled back. "Okay, just checking."

"So, uh, yeah," Apple Bloom said to Fluttershy even while she gave Sweetie Belle a strange look of her own. "What's this guy been doin' exactly?"

A desire to unload all the gripes and complaints she'd accumulated over the past few days hit Fluttershy like a truck, every little thing fighting to be said first. They ended up all coming out as one big suffering sigh before her mind imposed enough order to express them.

"A lot of _little_ things, mostly. He'll pretend he doesn't know how to do things we've demonstrated several times so we have to do it all over again. He'll misinterpret requests on purpose and either get us the wrong thing or bring the right thing to us way later than we wanted. He'll play mean pranks on the animals when we aren't looking. And the worst part is, he's not even consistent about it! _Sometimes_ he'll be mean and make things harder, but other times he'll just do what he's supposed to! And whenever someone calls him out on what he's doing, he'll act like we're just picking on him because he's an old man with a bad history! He's very good at _seeming_ kind and thoughtful, so much so that I keep having second thoughts about him, but he's _also_ very good at making me doubt myself and what I'm doing."

Her stream of consciousness dry for the moment, she took a breath and looked at the girls. For some reason she didn't really want to think about, they all flinched.

Scootaloo was the first to speak, though Fluttershy could tell she was nervous. "Wow, uh, that sure is... something..."

"I'll say," Sweetie Belle chimed in. "I'm not sure we know how to help with something like _that_."

Fluttershy felt her shoulders sag as she heard that. She should have known – the three girls in front of her were always eager to do things, but that didn't mean they were any good at them. And they were still so young, so of course they wouldn't know how to deal with someone like Mr. Discord – when would they have ever learned?

"Oh...," she told them, looking down and feeling shamed. "I understand. I'm sorry I bothered you with it..." That was that, she knew then. She'd have to solve her own problem while feeling bad about having tried to force it on someone else, who probably liked her even less now.

Only, Apple Bloom put an arm around Fluttershy's back and even _smiled_. "Don't be! Even if it don't seem like somethin' we can fix, we're still gonna try. Right girls?"

Fluttershy could tell how little they agreed by how long it took for them to nod.

"So," Apple Bloom asked her, "you mentioned you were getting' conflictin' advice, right?"

"Oh, yes," Fluttershy replied, just happy that they were still willing to at least _try_ to help her. "Dr. Rescue says that we should just treat him like, well, who he is, and not let him get to us. He'll only be volunteering at the animal shelter for a few months, after all."

"Well, that sounds reasonable," Scootaloo said. "If he's a jerk, then just ignore or avoid him as best you can."

If only it were that simple. It wasn't, and so Fluttershy sighed. "Yes, and I was going to do just that, but then this morning Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna dropped by, and, well..." She sighed again. It was, she had decided, a very sigh-worthy topic. "Long story short, they gave me some tips for dealing with him better. But they _also_ said that the reason why he's such a jerk to begin with is because he's never had anyone really care about him before, and has never had anyone to care _about_."

The younger girls shared a much more uncertain look before Apple Bloom said "That _is_ pretty sad to think about..."

Now _that_ was what Fluttershy wanted to hear. None of the three women she'd talked to about Mr. Discord had much sympathy for him, so hearing it from her young friends – even if they didn't know exactly who they were talking about – was reassuring. The mere knowledge that other people were even _inclined_ to feel the same sympathy as Fluttershy made it feel as though a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

"Oh, I know!" she told them. "And it just made me think about how Sunset and Twilight used to be before they became our friends. And even though I know he's a lot older than they are and so probably can't change as easily, I still can't help but thinking that he _can_ if only someone would give him a chance."

"And... you wanna _be_ that someone?" Scootaloo asked, blatantly skeptical.

Fluttershy hesitated, not because she didn't know the answer but because she didn't know if she wanted to say it outright. The notion of her trying to reform a man like Mr. Discord still seemed off, even to her, and what would other people think once they found out more about him? But she didn't want to lie about it, either, not when it seemed like the girls had already come to the conclusion themselves.

She felt herself look down at her fidgeting hands, but forced herself to voice her true opinion anyway. "Umm... well, I guess so... I mean, nobody _else_ thinks it might be a good idea to try. And I _am_ supposed to have the Element of Kindness, I think, so why shouldn't I extend that kindness to him?"

She couldn't bare to look as they went silent, obviously deliberating their response amongst themselves. Thus she was surprised when Scootaloo soon said "That's also a pretty good point."

"So... _do_ you wanna show him kindness and try to be his friend?" Sweetie asked, and Fluttershy felt herself drawn to her eyes.

"I do," she answered, her determination only taking but a moment to flare to life inside her. "I just don't know if I can succeed, especially when everybody else seems to think it's impossible."

"Well, _I_ don't think it's impossible," Sweetie Belle said, and Fluttershy felt the fire in her heart increase. "Not for you, anyway. And besides, just because something is _hard_ doesn't mean it's not worth doing. I mean, look at us!" She motioned to her two friends. "We've been trying for _years_ to figure out what we're really good at, and we _still_ haven't succeeded!"

"Hey, yeah!" Apple Bloom chimed in, her smile giving even more warmth to Fluttershy. "Crusadin's been some of the hardest stuff I've ever done, but I'm _never_ gonna give up until we figure it out!"

"Yeah, me neither!" Scootaloo chimed in, her previous skepticism drowned out by raw enthusiasm. "You know what, _forget_ all that stuff about him being a jerk. He's not gonna _stop_ being a jerk on his own, and if you think being nice to him will help then that's what you should do."

Fluttershy practically beamed, overjoyed that somebody finally understood how she felt. "You're right. I don't care _how_ hard it is, I'm still going to do the right thing." She clenched her fists and looked upward, declaring to the heavens – well, the heavens on the other side of the ceiling at least – that she was absolutely determined to see this through no matter what.

She snapped her head back down to the girls. "Thank you for helping me," she told them. "I think all I _really_ needed was someone to talk to and give me a confidence boost."

"Glad we could help!" Scootaloo replied for the group, putting her hands behind her head and striking a cocky grin.

A throat was suddenly cleared nearby, which almost startled Fluttershy clear out of her good mood. Then she looked over and saw it was only just Applejack's brother holding a sack of kibble nearly the size of her on his shoulder so she let herself breath a sigh of relief. He soon began to walk towards the exit, however, and the girls took that as their cue to wrap up the conversation.

"Well, uh, let us know how it turns out," Apple Bloom said first as she stepped away.

"Good luck!" Sweetie added with a parting wave.

Fluttershy waved back, feeling gracious. "Thanks. Good luck finding yourselves!"

"We will!" Scootaloo answered with one final wave before the door closed behind them.

"...'we will'?" Fluttershy repeated after a moment, face screwed up in confusion. "That was an odd thing to say. Did she mishear me or something?"

And then, all at once, the realization that she'd just spent several minutes talking to friends instead of getting pet food hit her. She gasped in horror, spun around, and raced into the store at the fastest walk she could manage without getting too embarrassed.

An hour and a half after beginning his walk around the city, Mr. Discord's arms were getting tired. As deceptively well-trained as the dogs were there were still quite a lot of them, and Mr. Discord hadn't been young in decades. The only thing that had kept him walking for so long had been a general disinterest in returning to the Center before he had to. There'd be some sort of tedious confrontation, no doubt, and afterwards they'd probably make him do actual work. And he doubted he'd be able to use his genuine (this time) tiredness to get out of it. They might even make him take a late lunch.

But he knew he'd have to go back eventually, and had already begun steering his pack back on route to their temporary home. And not long after that, he heard something that elicited both excitement and panic in his old bones: the sound of a bank alarm going off.

"Oh, _somebody's_ been naughty," he said to himself, fully aware that his dogs were leading him in the alarm's direction and uncertain as to whether he wanted them to or not.

"Hmph," he said after a few more feet. "I suppose it _couldn't_ hurt to go see what all the hubbub is about. I've been tailed all morning, the police would be _fools_ to think I have anything to do with it." He snorted. "I suppose that's not as reassuring as I'd like; the police have _always_ been fools. But nevertheless, my alibi is rock solid and I won't do more than rubberneck to begin with. Just a bit of excitement for a curious old man, nothing wrong with that."

And so, fueled more by stubborn defiance than anything else, Mr. Discord continued on towards the bank that was no-doubt being robbed. It didn't take him too long to find it, either; if the approaching sirens hadn't clued him in then the gathered crowd would have made it obvious. He felt it immediately strange, however, that the crowd should arrive before the police. But he couldn't yet determine the cause of the paradox, as even at his great height Mr. Discord could not see past the throng in front of him.

He was about to just call off the endeavor entirely when one of the other onlookers, startled by his exuberant dogs and their incessant desire to sniff anything and everything around them, stumbled and bumped into Mr. Discord. That caused him to lax his hold on the leashes just long enough for a terrier at the front of the pack to sense freedom and seize it.

Seeing the dog disappear between the legs of the crowd was enough to make Mr. Discord's already-gray skin turn white. He managed to regain control of the rest of the dogs, but while his natural inclination was to give the runaway up as temporarily lost the rest of the pack had other ideas.

Of course, a man like Mr. Discord _never_ gets dragged anywhere against his will. So he was the pinnacle of composure and confidence as he strode through the crowd, letting the dogs do most of the work as always and doling out apologies where need be. The dread he felt inside reached its peak with merciful swiftness, and even abated somewhat when he breached the crowd and saw the stray dog waiting in the clearing they'd encircled. Also present were a slightly-battered old car, several criminal types tied up with rope, and two very eccentrically-dressed young women who were looking at him with surprise.

"Pardon me, ladies." he said, making sure to tip his hat while his dogs fanned out in a thoroughly unwanted manner. "I'll just, ah, collect my little _friend_ ," he motioned to the terrier who was now sniffing some sort of sack, "and be on my way."

He received only glares in reply at first, but to his surprise one of the strange young women – blue-skinned, armored, and baring a shock of rainbow hair – suddenly appeared in front of him at the end of a rainbow-colored blur, holding the terrier's leash.

It took Mr. Discord's mind an embarrassingly high number of split-seconds to process what had happened, but before he could realize anything beyond that he'd just witnessed something _very interesting_ the sound of sirens snapped him out of his daze. Innocent or not he didn't want to be caught on top of a crime scene, so he grabbed the leash, whistled out a command, and tugged the pack into action. They left opposite the way they'd come in from, as quickly as Mr. Discord could get the pack to go.

And as he left, his heightened nerves alerted him that he was being watched. Expecting it to be his current tail he turned his head, but saw to his surprise a figure wearing a motorcycle helmet duck down below the lip of a roof across from the crime scene. Not quite knowing what to make of it but well aware of the haste he needed, Mr. Discord looked away and continued forward.

"Either my eye deceived me," he murmured to himself once he felt he was safely away from the scene, "or the rumors of this town having bona fide _superheroes_ is truer than I imagined. How grand!" His lips curled up into a mirthful smile, and he let loose a childlike giggle. "It's like something out of a comic book. I wonder what sort of smoke-and-mirrors they use to foil the bad guys? If only I'd stumbled upon them sooner so I could watch the _showdown_ for myself."

He sighed. "Oh well. Another bit of fun for another day, I suppose. Come to think of it, I wouldn't be surprised if that helmeted sneak I spotted was in on the con. Either that or a rather _determined_ secret admirer of theirs."

He said nothing aloud after that, content to walk back to the Center in relative silence. A few times he glanced back to check on his tail, but failed to spot the yellow-haired man at all. Chalking it up to either coincidence or good luck, Mr. Discord continued on in peace.

Fluttershy had been quite happy to see that even with her longer-than-expected shopping trip Mr. Discord hadn't returned before her. She'd resolved herself to showing him kindness in hopes of truly reforming him, yes, but she wanted to prepare herself and do it on her _own_ terms. That meant giving herself the chance to calmly plan out her approach in a familiar environment.

Whether by good fortune or ill, no sooner had she finished feeding the animals in current residence than did she hear the din of barking dogs in the front rooms. Taking a breath to steel herself, Fluttershy put on a pleasant smile and opened the door to the boarding room.

She was quickly assailed by several of the dogs, who pinned her to the wall and greeted her with happy tongues. "It's nice to see you all again too!" she giggled, rubbing each of their heads in turn and taking the time to remove their leashes.

"Ah! My _humblest_ apologies, dear Fluttershy," Mr. Discord said, looming over her with a neutral expression. "I truly wasn't expecting you to be on the other side of the door. You understand, don't you?"

"It's okay, Mr. Discord, I understand," she answered without reluctance, still smiling even as she looked up at him. "How was your walk? I hope the doggies weren't too difficult to handle."

Mr. Discord, momentarily taken aback by her pleasantness, could only blink. "Oh! Well, they were _hardly_ a problem, I assure you," he finally answered, adopting a proud affect as he stood up straight and rested a hand on his chest. "In fact, I'd say I've bonded quite well with all of the little ankle-biters!" He bent down and stroked the back of a spaniel in demonstration, and it panted happily.

"We saw quite the sights as well," he added as an aside.

"Really?" Fluttershy asked, attention on the next leash she was removing. "I'd like to here about it, if you don't mind telling that is."

That caused Mr. Discord to stand up straight and blink again, but his surprise soon turned to suspicion as he narrowed his eyes at her. "Is that so? How peculiar, I didn't think you'd be interested."

"What's wrong with being interested in a coworker's life?" she replied, looking up at him again. Then she giggled, adding "Well, more like co- _volunteer_. But still..."

This only made Mr. Discord even more suspicious. "I don't know what your _angle_ is, but fine, I'll bite. Towards the tail end of my little jaunt about town, I happened upon a _crime scene_." Fluttershy's brow shot up in genuine surprise, and Mr. Discord replied with a haughty little laugh. "Yes, that's right. It was a _bank robbery_ , to be specific."

"Oh my," Fluttershy said, eyes wide and leash-removal duty momentarily forgotten. "That sounds frightening! You weren't hurt, were you?"

"Silly girl, of course not!" he answered, giving her a look of sharp disdain. "The heist had already been thwarted by the time I got there, and a crowd had gathered. One of the dogs got loose and ran off into the masses so I _bravely_ chased after it, and there in the middle I saw the most _peculiar_ pair of young ladies about your age."

"Pe-peculiar?" Fluttershy stammered, standing stiff and putting her hands on her geode necklace. "H-how so?"

Mr. Discord raised a brow at the gesture, but said nothing of it. "The pair of them were dressed like costumed _heroines_ straight out the comics. One mysterious and purple, the other wearing armor and having a vague sort of _rainbow_ theme to her."

"R- _Rainbow?_ " Fluttershy squeaked, eyes wide and breathing getting heavier. One hand still on her geode, she leaned again the wall and used her other hand to brace herself.

Mr. Discord stared at her for a good long while before his lips suddenly curled into a dastardly smile. "Ah, I see! Fluttershy, you wouldn't happen to know that pair of caped crusaders, would you? I couldn't help but notice the similarities between _your_ necklace and the one around the neck of your rainbow-haired _friend_."

Fluttershy squeaked again, drawing it out as she slid down the wall. Several concerned dogs licked her, but she was unresponsive.

But before either of them could say another word, movement out of the corner of his eye caught Mr. Discord's attention. The door to the boarding room was still wide open, as was the door to the back hallway, giving him a fairly direct line-of-sight to the lobby and entrance with which to see the trio of uniformed men enter the Rescue Center.

The blue-skinned man at the front of the group made eye contact with him immediately. In a strong, clear voice he said "Mr. Discord! Just who we wanted to see." The man didn't smile.

Mr. Discord gulped. "H-h-hello, officers!" he greeted with false cheer, tugging at his collar and taking an instinctive step back as the three policemen began walking towards him. "What, ah, what happens to be the problem?"

"I think you know perfectly well why we're here, Mr. Discord," the blue-skinned officer said. "We'd like you to come down to the station with us for some questioning about a _bank robbery_ earlier this morning."


	8. Chapter 8 - The Clock Strikes Twelve

**Author's Note**

Hello again, dear readers! Just like promised, here's another piece of my November progress. As I said last time, this chapter is much like the first one in that it checks in with all the various plotlines I've got going so far. It also marks the beginning to the story's second arc, so I hope you like it!

\- Fangren

* * *

 **Chapter 8 – The Clock Strikes Twelve**

High noon rang out over Canterlot, heralded most loudly by its clocktower and echoed in silence by clocks across the city. The day was half over; its stories not quite. Those continued to be made and told as they always had, uncaring of the time of day or the heat of the sun high above. And as they always had those stories would cross paths and intertwine, changing and being changed and all none the wiser.

All lives remain connected, for better or for worse.

The truth-seekers on a new quest...

The young girls in search of adventure...

The lovers in search of peace...

The hero standing against her rival...

The sisters and their reunion...

The delinquents seeking safety of two vastly different kinds...

The kind heart in crisis...

All of them headed forward blindly, unaware of what the day had yet to bring.

* * *

Pinkie groaned. She was currently slumped over on the Pie family's kitchen table, arms splayed and hair drooping. Before her were two dozen well-baked cupcakes decorated to look like rocks, and her arms and face were speckled with bits of frosting and the occasional sprinkle, yet she was staring past them in boredom.

"I'm _bored_ ," she whined. "It feels like we haven't done anything in _forever_..."

Limestone, who was walking past carrying a chair, stopped and gave her an odd look. "What, does all the stuff we've been doing all morning not count or something? The cupcakes, the cleaning, the last-minute reordering of the rock garden?"

"It's not that it doesn't...," Pinkie sighed, raising an arm and rolling a hand. "It's just that that stuff was all _job-well-done_ sorta anything. It's fun, but kinda mundane." She paused. "Does that make it _fun_ dane?" she asked, suddenly lifting her head and giving her older sister a questioning look.

"How should I know, it's your made-up word," Limestone told her with a scowl.

Pinkie shrugged. "Meh. Either way, what I _really_ want is something extra-super- _funtacular_ fun. Like something someone would write a story about, y'know?"

"No?" Limestone replied, looking at her oddly again. Then Pinkie sighed mournfully, prompting Limestone to groan and shake her head. "Look, we're gonna go pick up Maud soon so stop moping."

"That's right!" Pinkie said, perking up in body, face, and hair. "Once Maud is here, extra-super-funtacular fun is _sure_ to follow! What are we waiting for," she got up and made to start running for the home's front door, "let's go get her!"

She was stopped and pulled back by a single hand on her shoulder courtesy of Limestone. "Not yet. We're getting her after lunch, remember?"

"Oh yeah...," Pinkie said, her smile fading. Only to reappear a moment later when she gleefully announced "Lunchtime!"

Limestone could only groan.

* * *

In a cluttered bedroom in a purple house in a well-off part of the city, Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer planned and debated their next course of action down to the finest minutiae. It had been nearly two hours since their encounter with the mysterious Amethyst Shine, and ever since then she'd been at the forefront of their thoughts. The bus ride back to Twilight's home had been filled with whispered discussion of how Amethyst had made her escape, if and how she might know the human world's Sunset Shimmer, and what she was going to do next; and once they were back at their makeshift lab they set aside the parts they'd purchased for their original project to focus on the current discussion even more.

Both Spike and Twilight's parents had noticed the girls' change in mood, but only the former got any answers – Night Light and Twilight Velvet had just been assured that nothing was wrong before the girls headed upstairs.

Conversation since then had centered around the drafting of a group text to their five friends, informing them of the situation.

"Alright," Twilight said, eyes on the notebook in her lap, setting a mechanical pencil against the open page. "This draft should be both concise _and_ informative. The language is specific enough to prevent misunderstandings, and our intentions are explicit. It's ready for your assessment," she finished with a nod, looking up at Sunset with a smile on her face. She handed her the notebook.

Sunset grabbed it with one hand, diverting her attention away from the sketchpad in her own lap to read it. Her eyes scanned the page quickly, and she soon smiled back at the girl sitting across from her on the bed. "Looks good. And I'm almost done with the final draft of the sketch. Hopefully we didn't forget any big details about what Amethyst looked like."

Twilight accepted the notebook when it was returned, placing it in her lap then adjusting her glasses. "Right. Image memory is surprisingly unreliable, and even after coming to a consensus as to what she looked like it's still possible we overlooked something or were mistaken. I'd hate to have our friends bother a stranger thinking she's Amethyst."

"Yeah, I know what you're saying," Sunset said as she resumed drawing. "But at the same time, we can't let this opportunity slip away. And at least with the sketch they're more likely to find the right person." She made the finishing touches to her drawing, and handed the book to Twilight.

It only took a few seconds for her to smile. "This might be the misinformation effect at work, but I'd say this is the most accurate depiction of her yet."

"You think it's good enough to send to the others?" Sunset asked, looking uncertain.

Twilight paused for a moment before nodding. "Yes. I'm satisfied with both it and the draft text. Are you?" She passed the sketchbook back across the bed.

Sunset stared at it for a moment before letting out her breath. "As I'll ever be. You want me to take the picture of it?" she asked, pulling out her smartphone.

"Actually, I have a better idea," Twilight countered, smiling mysteriously as she took Sunset's sketchbook back from her. She cleanly and carefully tore then latest sketch of Amethyst Shine out of it, then wordlessly took it over to her computer.

"What are you-?" Sunset began to ask, getting her answer when Twilight opened the top of a machine she realized was a scanner and placed the image inside. She closed the top and pressed a button and the machine whirred to life. Seconds later Twilight was opening the new file on her computer and doing something else to it; seconds after that her phone beeped.

She checked it, and smiled. "Perfect." Noticing Sunset's questioning look, she turned the phone towards her – on the screen was the scanned image of Sunset's drawing. "The image quality will be much higher this way. All we need to do now is write the text, attach the image, and send it to everyone."

Sunset looked at her for a moment before smiling. "Awesome."

* * *

Across town, Rarity and Applejack strolled hand-in-hand through Queen's Park towards a café the fashionista claimed had a "view to absolutely _die_ for" from it's veranda. With nobody around to recognize them and thus blow the cover off their not-quite-covert first date they had allowed themselves to relax and enjoy each other, stealing glances that led to smiles and closeness as they walked.

"Ya know, a girl could get used to this," Applejack said.

"Oh?" Rarity asked with a coy look. "Get used to _what_ , may I ask?"

Applejack squeezed her hand and grinned. "Why, bein' with the most beautiful girl in the whole world, 'a course!"

That earned a blush and giggle from Rarity. "Oh, you," she said, giving her girlfriend a playful swat on the arm before clutching it tighter. "Though I agree, of course. I _could_ get used to being with the most beautiful girl in the whole world." She gave Applejack a flirtatious wink as she said that, eliciting a blush.

She recovered quickly, however, and cracked a smirk. "I shoulda figured, given how long ya like to spend in front 'a the mirror and all." Which earned another, harder swat that made Applejack chuckle.

"I'm _serious_ , Applejack," Rarity pouted.

"Oh really?" Applejack replied with a tone of hearty skepticism as she raised an eyebrow. "You think _I'm_ the most beautiful girl in the world. Even though most 'a the time I'm soaked with sweat and dirt from workin' the orchards all day?"

Rarity let go of her, taking a few long steps forward with her back turned and her hands clasped behind her back. "I'll admit you aren't exactly a _traditional_ beauty," she said before spinning around on her heel, forcing Applejack to stop in her tracks. "But you _are_ still beautiful. Just a more...," she gave her an appraising look and smile, " _earthy_ sort of beautiful. And, as I said, you are the most _beautiful_ girl in the world."

"Oh yeah?" Applejack countered, crossing her arms. "And where exactly does that leave you?"

Rarity crossed her arms as well, even closing her eyes and tilting her head up defiantly. " _Also_ the most beautiful girl in the world. You said so yourself, did you not?"

Applejack stared at her for a moment, then pinched the bridge of her nose. "Rarity, there can't be _two_ most beautiful girls in the world."

"And why not?" Rarity asked, doubling down on her defiance. "Our beauties _are_ different, after all. Why can't they _both_ be utterly perfect in every way?"

"I don't even know where to _begin_ with that...," Applejack muttered.

Before she or Rarity could say anything more, however, both girls were interrupted by their phones going off within seconds of each other. They shared a confused look for a moment before simultaneously reaching into pocket and purse and withdrawing their devices.

"It's from Twilight," Applejack said, brow furrowed.

"Mine too," Rarity replied, frowning as she began to read.

The pair took a few moments to read in silence, only looking up once to silently share their surprise with each other. "So, what do ya wanna tell 'em?" Applejack asked.

Rarity chewed on her lip a little before replying. "Well, we can _hardly_ tell them that we're already out and about in the city. I'd rather not risk them asking questions we're not prepared to answer truthfully or piecing things together on their own. Twilight and Sunset are quite clever, after all..."

"Ya got that right...," Applejack murmured, tilting her hat as she looked at the screen of her phone. "Course, we gotta tell 'em _somethin'_ in case we run into this Amethyst person."

"You aren't suggesting we interrupt our plans in order to search for her, are you?" Rarity asked with a troubled expression.

Applejack took one look and gave her a soft smile. "Naw, of course not! I'm just sayin' we gotta be prepared in case we run into her while we're enjoyin' ourselves. It ain't likely ta happen, I know, but if it does I _am_ gonna try to talk to her like Twilight asked."

Rarity pouted a bit, then placed a finger on her lips in thought. "Well... fair enough, I suppose. I'll admit I wouldn't mind learning more about this supposed 'other Sunset' either, especially if it's to help _our_ Sunset. And we _do_ have some wiggle room in today's schedule of events. It's just that it'll be tricky explaining to our friends why we _happened_ to be searching together."

"Exactly," Applejack said. "You goin' out alone is one thing since ya had the house to yourself. But with Big Mac and our sisters havin' the truck all day, by all rights I'd have no way of leavin' the farm!"

"Hmm...," Rarity murmured, one hand tapping her chin in thought while the other arm supported it. It didn't take long for her to brighten up and snap her fingers, declaring "Ah ha! I have the _perfect_ idea."

"What is it?" her girlfriend asked. "I don't reckon we got a lotta time before Twilight wonders why we're not replyin'."

"Simple," Rarity answered with a proud smirk. "You simply tell her that you can't leave the farm right now, and _I'll_ let her know that I've got the day free to search as much as she'd like. With the right wording and a little luck, she'll ask if I can pick you up. I'll say yes, of course," she said, giving Applejack a coy smile, "and _voila!_ " She clapped her hands. "We'll have our cover story."

"Hrmm... I suppose that'll work," Applejack murmured, frowning at her. She looked down at her phone, adding "I just gotta think of a way to word it that I'm comfortable with. How about, uh, 'I'd love to help ya, Twi, but I can't really roam around the city right now. Big Mac's got the truck for the day on account of my sister and her friends wantin' to go on some sorta adventure.' That's all technically true, at least. I just ain't fond 'a _technical_ truths. They don't feel real enough."

Rarity placed a hand on her shoulder. "It'll have to do. You can always apologize to them about it later."

"I guess," Applejack said halfheartedly, flicking her hat. She stared at the message for a while longer, then finally sighed and sent it off.

Moments later, Rarity sent hers off as well. "Hopefully it won't take her long," she commented as she and Applejack resumed their walk towards their lunch destination.

"Eeyup," Applejack said for lack of better words. After a few moments she smiled at her girlfriend and took her hand, but they were forced to drop them again when their phones went off shortly after one another.

The corners of Rarity's mouth bent downwards as she read it. "Hrmm... nothing more than a simple 'Thanks', I'm afraid."

"She's at least asked _me_ if I'd be willin' to tag along with someone else," Applejack said, staring at her phone. "Guess I'll say yes..." She sent off the reply before Rarity could say anything.

"I hope you worded that right," she said, looking worried. "I'd hate for her to suggest getting a ride with one of the others..."

The telltale tone alerted them to another text for Applejack, who quickly looked at it and smiled. "Looks like it turned out just fine. She says you might be able to pick me up if I like. That's what we want, right?"

Her answer came in the form of her girlfriend's lips curling upward into a bright smile. "Perfect! Tell her you'll ask me, and we'll have the _perfect_ excuse if we're seen together."

Applejack chuckled at her enthusiasm. "Well, if ya say so...," she said, sending off one last text message.

* * *

Downtown, Rainbow Dash had wisely alighted upon a rooftop when she got the text. She read it quickly, and squinted to get a better look at the attached image under the glint of the midday sun. Then she groaned.

"What, they expect me to look for this girl _now?_ " she griped. "I'm having trouble keeping up with Mare-Do-Well _already_ , I don't need some _other_ girl to track down too!"

Dash looked out over the city, then sighed and looked back at the message. "Then again, this _does_ sound pretty important. And I guess it couldn't hurt _too_ much to keep an eye out for this 'Amethyst Shine' person." She let the hand holding her phone drop to her side, the other shielding her eyes as she looked up at the nearly cloudless sky.

"Screw it," she said suddenly, turning attention back to her phone and hammering out a response. "I'll do it. No reason not to, right? Heck, she'll probably be _easy_ to find. I don't _care_ if she disappeared mysteriously or whatever, she's no-"

And just as suddenly she stopped, thumb hovering over the key that would send her reply and eyes wide with shocking revelation. "-Mare-Do-Well..." The name passed her lips as barely more than a whisper, and as soon as it was spoken a wide and energetic grin formed.

"Aww yeah!" she excitedly declared, sending her response text off without a second thought. "Time to take out two birds with one stone!"

She shoved her phone into her bag and flew off.

* * *

Hidden away in one of the more downtrodden sections of the city, in an abandoned warehouse filled with broken furniture and long-forgotten garbage, the door to the second floor was locked. At one time it had been left open by drifters and criminals who'd taken everything the floor had to offer and claimed the space as their own; now it was barred to the outside world and completely unmovable no matter how many tried to force it open. The fire escape had been similarly blockaded.

Only the windows were left as broken and grimy portals to the outside world, but only a fool would attempt to enter through them. Why bother risking your health for the second floor of an abandoned warehouse? Nobody was ever around it, so it had probably been blocked off by sheer chance.

Had anyone taken the risk, they would have been rewarded with the discovery of a well-dusted den stuffed with crates and enough amenities to last a person through the night. A police scanner was sat on top an old card table, and a nearby dry-erase board looked to have been wiped clean recently. All the windows in the room but one were barred, and the door was locked.

The warm, still air was broken by the sudden arrival of a young woman clad in purple, appearing in the middle of the room as if from nowhere. She landed softly in a crouch on the bare wooden floor, and as she stood her long cape unfurled around her. She strode with purpose to a pile of crates that had been covered in a large white sheet and given pillows to form a makeshift couch, but rather than throw herself down on it she simply took off her wide-brimmed hat and casually tossed it onto the seat. Then she knelt and lifted the corner of the sheet to reveal a crate that looked exactly as ordinary as all the others in the room; she felt around the edges of the front panel for a moment before pulling it off entirely.

Inside was a safe. She swiftly looked left and right and over her shoulder before spinning the dial and entering the combination; the door swung open shortly after and she looked around the room again. Only then did she reach carefully into a hidden pocket of her full-body suit and pull out a thick roll of cash. With nearly a hundred dollars in it it was her largest score by far; the product of skill, planning, and a little bit of luck, and it made her proud.

She tossed it casually inside the safe, and paused for a moment to admire her full stash: Gems of varying types and cuts and sizes. Jewelry and watches that had caught her envious eye. And bundles of cash, mostly small bills. All of it had been pilfered, bit by bit, from the scenes of robberies she'd thwarted in payment for her services, starting small but earning more and more each time. How she longed to make use of it, for what was the meaning of wealth – of _power_ – if you didn't flaunt it? Unfortunately for her, a part of her was too scared of getting caught using stolen money or selling stolen goods.

It was the same irritating little part of her that even now was swelling up with guilt as she viewed the contents of the safe. The same irritating little part that struck her with an urge to gather up all of it and spirit it away to the nearest police station and leave it for them; it was the right thing to do, they'd never have to know it was me!

The urge was strong enough and unexpected enough that she fell backwards trying to fight it off. She writhed on the floor for a good few seconds before she managed to kick the safe closed, and that was enough to banish the urge to the unimportant corner of her mind it had come from. She got back to her feet and dusted off her cape and costume, then replaced the crate panel and covering sheet. Only then did she take a seat on top of it, and allowed herself to relax.

She really did need to deal with that irritating little part of her, though. As useful as it was, it was growing to become a nuisance. Didn't it understand that she was only doing what she deserved? Had it really gotten cold feet this far along the path to greatness she so desperately craved? It was disappointing. She had the power she had long envied, and now it was unwilling to use it.

At this rate, she'd have to either find a way to silence that irritating little part of her forever, or find something better...

* * *

And at the O'Patty's on Queen's Avenue (between 5th and 6th Streets), an old pickup truck pulled into one of the last available parking spots. Three teenage girls and one older boy got out of it, the younger trio taking the lead and chatting excitedly amongst themselves as they headed inside a thoroughly average franchise of the Republic's leading burger chain.

"I still say we should've gotten lunch at the Poultry Barn," Scootaloo remarked, arms folded behind her head. "Their chicken wings are _amazing_."

"And _expensive_ ," Sweetie Belle countered. "O'Patty's has a better value menu. It has stuff for everybody!"

"More like you have a coupon for a free shake that expires _tomorrow_ ," Scootaloo countered back out of the corner of her mouth.

"So?!" Sweetie all but gasped. "That doesn't mean I'm _wrong_. Back me up, Apple Bloom!" she said, turning a pleading look to their gang's third member. Scootaloo followed suit.

Apple Bloom just shrugged. "Don't matter much to me. The only reason we picked this place is cause it was the closest. Ain't that right, Big Mac?" she turned and asked her brother.

"Eeyup," he said faithfully.

They reached the door and the argument ended, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo declaring a silent truce on the matter in the face of their present location. It nearly ended when Sweetie stuck her tongue out as she passed her friend by to get in line; but while Scootaloo fumed she elected not to cause a scene.

The girls placed their orders one by one, with Big Mac following behind and making it clear to the cashiers that he'd be paying for all four of them. And as each received their greasy, salty, delicious order in turn, they headed to one of the many empty tables inside the restaurant.

"So, what's next on the to-do list?" Scootaloo asked through a mouth full of fries once all four had been seated.

"Hrmm, good question," Apple Bloom replied, setting down the burger she was just about to bite into and fishing the somewhat crumpled list of errands from her pocket. "Let's see... we got the food for Winona... refilled Granny's prescriptions... picked up all that mail that never got delivered..."

" _That_ was a weird experience," Scootaloo said to Sweetie Belle, who nodded emphatically.

"Looks like the next thing we gotta do is return some library books for her," Apple Bloom finished, folding up the list and stowing it back in her pocket.

Scootaloo sighed. "So another _boring_ thing, huh?"

Sweetie Belle took a good, long sip of her shake before saying "Maybe there'll be someone we can help find a book or something?"

" _Still_ boring...," Scootaloo replied. "Are you sure we can't go do something more exciting?" she asked Big Mac.

"Nnnnope," he replied without hesitation.

She sighed and hung her head. "That's what I thought."

It was then that the sound of an approaching motorcycle caught their attention, and the four turned their heads towards the nearest window to see it pull into the parking lot. The driver was a young woman based on the figure, wearing a battered leather jacket and old jeans.

She took off her helmet, and the Crusaders gasped. Even Big Mac's jaw dropped, a bit of lettuce falling out of it.

"Is that...?" Apple Bloom asked as she watched the amber-skinned young woman stow away her helmet and walk towards the door.

"It _can't_ be...," Scootaloo replied, eyes glued to the girl.

"It is!" Sweetie countered as she finally entered.

With her red-and-gold hair cut short, a scar across her left eye, and a no-nonsense scowl on her face, she looked quite different from the girl they knew. But that face was undeniable.

"It's Sunset Shimmer!"

* * *

Only a few blocks away, though unbeknownst to her 'riding partner' or indeed anyone else of consequence, Starlight Glimmer poked her head out of an alleyway. Her eyes were wide and her breathing heavy as she looked frantically from one side to the other. A man in a business suit who happened to be walking past gave her a strange look; she gave him an awkwardly wide smile and wave that only seemed to unnerve him more. He hurried away, and Starlight breathed a sigh of relief.

It didn't last long before she hustled out into the open and power-walked away. "This is ridiculous," she muttered under her breath, trying to control the panic in her voice while keeping her eyes from darting around. "Completely and _totally_ ridiculous."

She saw another person walking towards her down the sidewalk ahead of her, gasped, and ducked into the nearest alley while they were looking away. Once she felt she was sufficiently hidden from public view, she rested against a wall and clutched at her chest. She desperately willed herself to calm down, telling herself that she wasn't really being followed. She was letting her paranoia from years of being on the run and avoiding the authorities like the plague get the better of her again; there was no _way_ she was actually being tailed by some kind of cult. She must have misheard or misunderstood those girls from earlier when they mentioned magic.

But as much as she kept telling herself that, she kept remembering how they'd somehow known about Sunset Shimmer, and how they wanted to track Starlight down, fake name or not. And that was bad no matter their reasons behind it – people looking for her would undoubtedly ask unwanted questions, and that would lead to trouble.

So for now, Starlight needed to lay low. Which meant finding somewhere to lay low _at_ , especially now that the library was out of the question after she'd expressed interest in it to that Twilight girl. Going there now was just asking to be cornered.

But without a familiarity with the city, Starlight was left with only one place left to go. She hoped that if anyone was after her, they hadn't found it yet.

* * *

And in the Canterlot Rescue Center...

Mr. Discord blinked, his mouth opening and closing as the three police officers stared him down. "Ah, c-come again?" he said, putting on a smile. "I'm not certain I heard you right. You'd like to question me about a... about a bank robbery?"

The blue-skinned officer scowled. "Several eyewitnesses place you at the scene, Mr. Discord. We're not accusing you of being behind it, but there _are_ some lingering questions we'd like you to clear up."

"W-well," Mr. Discord replied, quickly reaching an indignant stride, "I see no reason why I can't answer them here! I did nothing!"

The officer sighed and shook his head. "You should know we can't just do that in your case. Especially because we'd rather not disturb the Rescue Center's operations any more than we already have," he said, looking around the hall – including at Dr. Rescue, who was now standing in an open doorway.

She snorted. "Just take him away. If there's any chance of him going back to his old ways, I don't want him around."

Mr. Discord huffed and gave her a look of sheer offense. "That's _hardly_ a professional way to treat one of your _volunteers_ , Doctor."

Dr. Rescue didn't flinch. "Maybe I'd have more professionalism to spare if you hadn't spent the last week chipping away at it. You've been on thin ice with me for awhile now, and you've got nobody to blame but yourself."

"Umm..."

The two stared at one another as though daring the other to speak until the blue-skinned officer stepped between them, arms outstretched. "Okay, that's enough. Mr. Discord," he said, causing the elderly man to turn his stare his way, "it's pretty clear that it would be best for everyone if you just came down to the station with us."

Mr. Discord harrumphed. "Very well. But only because it's obvious this _farce_ of an accusation won't be cleared up otherwise. I expect full apologies from _everyone_ ," he drew himself up to his full height and sent a narrow-eyed glance back at Dr. Rescue, "once it becomes clear that I have done absolutely _nothing_ wrong."

He paused to think for a moment, then added "This time."

One of the other two officers, a pink-skinned man, snorted and muttered "Yeah right..." He was immediately given a sharp look by the blue-skinned officer, and stiffened under it. "With all due respect, sir," he explained, " _nobody_ believes this guy is innocent. Not with _his_ history."

"Umm... I do..."

"Well if _that's_ the attitude the police are taking at the start of an investigation, then it seems _justice_ isn't all it's cracked up to be," Mr. Discord said coldly. "But no matter." He adjusted his overalls, then held out his arms. "I don't _care_ if you don't believe me. Just take me away and-"

"I believe you, Mr. Discord," Fluttershy said, finally loud enough for the others to take notice. She shrunk under the combined weight of the sudden attention on her.

"You do?" Mr. Discord asked, mildly startled. Then his lips curled upward into a cunning smile, and he sighed in delight. "Ahh, Fluttershy, I knew I could count on you," he said, walking beside her and putting his hands on her shoulder. Then he turned and faced the cops. "A good judge of character, this one," he told them, giving Fluttershy a light shake. "You three could learn a thing or two from her. In fact, I'd say the very existence of someone standing up for me should prove I've turned over a new leaf!"

The adults shifted uncomfortably, and even Fluttershy squirmed a little under the pressure of his hand pinning her in place. "That doesn't really... make a difference," the blue-skinned officer said after a moment. "We still have to take you down to the station for questioning."

And just like that, Mr. Discord's smile fell away. "Darn. Well then," he stepped forward and offered his hands with head held high, "let's get this over with."

Nobody moved for nearly a minute before the blue-skinned officer looked at his comrades and shrugged. They shrugged back, the pink-skinned one took out his handcuffs, and both stepped forward. They grabbed Mr. Discord's wrists and cuffed them behind his back, and led him through the hall to the entrance.

Fluttershy was expecting the four men to stop at the doorway, for Mr. Discord to look back and offer some thanks or words of encouragement, but the moment never came. They simply left without another word, leaving Fluttershy standing there at the door to the backroom in silence. She felt herself clutch the geode around her neck, though she wasn't sure why.

She looked to Dr. Rescue for a smile, a nod, anything comforting, but only saw her shake her head and walk back inside her office. And so, with her lofty goals of redeeming Mr. Discord seemingly a hair's breadth away from crashing down with nothing she could do to stop it, Fluttershy turned on her heel and walked back into the kennel room.

With her phone set to silent as it usually was during her working hours, she didn't notice the text she'd gotten.

* * *

Pinkie groaned again, leaning back in her chair and patting her full belly. "I had too much lunch..."

Marble, who had been walking past carrying her and her mother's plates, stopped to look at her twin. "Mmhmm," she said with a quiet yet surprisingly impish smile before moving on.

"I have long told you to practice temperance, Pinkamena," Cloudy Quartz said idly, sitting nearby and knitting.

"I know," Pinkie replied halfheartedly. "I was just in a hurry to finish so we could go pick up Maud!"

Limestone, sitting at the table with her, just stared. "Then why did you eat so much?"

"Halfway through I realized that eating fast won't make Maud's plane land any sooner," Pinkie moped. "But it was just so good that I kept going!"

The eldest Pie sibling face-palmed. "You better not make us late because of this."

"I won't," Pinkie said, holding up a weak thumb's up. "I'm good to go whenever." She stifled a belch.

"Good," Limestone told her. She paused, then added "You're not gonna make us wander around everywhere looking for that girl your friend told you about, are you?"

Pinkie tapped her chin in thought. "Nah," she decided. "I'll keep an eye out for her and let the girls know, but I wanna make today about _us_."

"Good, cause it's just about time to go," Limestone said, looking at her phone.

"Woohoo!" Pinkie cheered, raising her arms as she bolted upright with her full stomach forgotten. "Time for the best! Day! _Ever!_ "

Limestone couldn't help but smile and roll her eyes as she and Pinkie moved towards the front door, and Marble chimed in with a happy "Mmhmm!" as she followed after them.


	9. Chapter 9 - Importance of Flexibility

**Author's Note**

It took longer than I liked to get this published; I spent a good couple weeks generally uncertain as to this chapter's quality. But after some minor edits and getting into a better frame of mind, I'm much more optimistic about the start of the 'Afternoon Arc' of this story. And, of course, I hope it was well worth the wait to you all as well!

\- Fangren

* * *

 **Chapter 9 – On the Importance of Flexibility in Scheduling and Time Management**

"Okay, looks like that's settled then," Sunset said, leaning back on her hands. She was still sitting on Twilight's bed, its owner facing her from the chair at her desk. "Four pairs of eyes might not find her right away, but I wouldn't be surprised if one of them spots her within the next few days."

Twilight smiled, giggled, and adjusted her glasses. "Well, the exact probability of one of us seeing her even in the next _several_ days is probably pretty small," she said with a thoughtful look, placing a single finger on her chin and tilting her head up. "But it's still plausible at least." She tilted her head down, curling her finger and frowning. She abruptly spun around to face her computer, and started muttering things like 'population density' and 'demographics' under her breath as she began to type.

"Uh, is now really the time to be figuring that out?" Sunset asked, raising a brow. "I don't want us to fall behind even more than we already are."

That gave Twilight pause, and she spun back around to face Sunset with a bashful smile. "Good point. The exact probability of success isn't important since knowing it won't actually effect anything. And we still have so much other work to do!" she said, motioning to the parts and papers they'd gathered for their projects.

Her stomach growled, and Twilight blushed. "Also lunch. We should have lunch, too."

"I thought you scheduled us for a late lunch?" Sunset asked.

" _That_ was before we got sidetracked by Amethyst Shine," Twilight told her with a knowing nod. "So, instead of pushing to finish the detector _before_ lunch, we'll wait to start it _after_ lunch when we'll have more energy."

"Fine with me," said Sunset as she sat up and stretched her arms. "So, what do you wanna _do_ for lunch?"

Twilight just sort of stared at her for a moment, then blinked and stammered out "Oh, well, I was just-"

She was cut off by a yawn, and both girls looked down at the small dog bed by the door to see Spike stretching his paws. He blinked blearily a couple times, then looked up at them. "Somebody mention lunch? Cause I'm totally game for some lunch right now."

The girls giggled. "Like I was saying," Twilight said to Sunset, "I was just planning on having lunch here like I usually do. We have plenty of food in the kitchen." Then something occurred to her that made her suddenly more nervous. "U-unless you'd rather go out to eat? I'm sorry for just _assuming_ you wouldn't mind having lunch here, I'm sure it's a little strange since it's your first time and all..."

"Actually, I don't mind eating here at all," Sunset told her, smiling. "Better than the same old fast food or instant noodles, right?"

The frown that briefly passed across Twilight's face was more than enough reason for Sunset to regret her candidness, but she brushed it off with her continued smile as she stood up. "Come on," she told Twilight. "The sooner we eat, the sooner we can get back to work."

"Exactly!" Spike chimed in, more eager at the prospect of food than anything else.

"Right," Twilight said after a moment, standing up and smiling back. "I'd still like to finish the detector this afternoon so we can start our initial data-gathering before you go home."

"Hey, I'm fine staying longer," Sunset said as the three headed for the door. "It's not like I have anywhere else to be right now."

"Are you sure?" Twilight asked, her face filled with the uncertainty she was expecting from her friend. "I-I don't want you to feel like you _have_ to stay and help me if you'd rather go look for the other you..."

The two stopped when Sunset placed a hand on Twilight's shoulder. "Twilight, it's fine. Seriously. I know I made a big deal about looking for Amethyst, but right now I'd much rather spend my time here with _you_ than spend the rest of the day wandering around the city for either a girl who doesn't want me to find her, or a girl that might not even be around anymore. Besides, figuring out this world's magic is something I'm interested in too, remember?"

Twilight smiled and blushed, though more out of embarrassment than anything else. "Right."

* * *

The three soon arrived in the kitchen to find Twilight's parents having their own lunch at the table, putting a damper on the girl's own plan to eat away from their workspace. Questions of how the girls were doing with their project were deflected or answered with vague assurances that things were going well, and they quickly set to busying themselves in meal preparation.

Spike was first, requesting something wet and bacon-flavored that Twilight happily obliged him with. Then the girls started on their own meal; after several minutes of scouring fridge and pantry for options and debating each one (to the amusement of Twilight's parents), they settled on a fresh salad. Just about every kind of vegetable in the home's clean and well-stocked fridge was used in it, and they chose their dressings separately – Sunset ranch, Twilight vinaigrette.

But despite the insistent invitations from Night Light and Twilight Velvet, both girls were apprehensive about joining them for the meal. They had already reached an unspoken agreement that they'd go over Twilight's ideas for the new magic detector as they ate to save time, but with her parents still in the dark regarding magic they wouldn't have the liberty to do so. And so, with great reluctance, Twilight assented to using her room to eat – on the condition that they confine the activity to the floor.

"Fine with me," Sunset shrugged as they re-entered the bedroom with salad bowls in hand. She took a seat on the small rug next to the bed and leaned against the bed itself with her legs sticking out into the room, and motioned for Twilight to sit next to her.

Twilight did so only after an awkward giggle and a blush she hoped Sunset hadn't noticed, sitting alongside her best friend so close their shoulders were practically touching. More than a few of the following moments were spent in silence, neither girl acknowledging the contact or even one another in the eye. In the legs, yes, but not the eyes.

"So, have you decided how you're gonna improve the design yet?" Sunset finally said, unwittingly just as Twilight stabbed a bite of salad with her fork.

"Well, I'd like to find a way to control for our own magic first, as well as the inherent magic of the portal," she said with a thoughtful expression. She laughed, adding "The _last_ thing we need is a detector that only detects its user."

Sunset laughed as well once she swallowed her bite. "Yeah. I can't see that getting us anywhere very quickly."

Once she was able to, Twilight continued. "Once that's complete, I'll expand the interface to include more than just a dowsing feature. Displaying the distance to the target will be my top priority, of course, and with enough processing power we might even be able to track multiple sources against a map of the city!"

"You really think something like that will be necessary?" Sunset questioned.

Twilight shrugged happily. "I'm keeping our options open. But implementing multi-target tracking depends heavily on how much magical signals vary between sources, so _first_ I'll have to add a waveform display to the interface. But that'll be trivial," she finished with a wave of her hand.

"If you say so," Sunset said, smiling at her in amusement.

Then she got a text, and that amusement was consumed by utter shock as she read it. She even let her salad bowl slip out of her hand, and it spilled onto her legs upon hitting her lap.

"What is it?" Twilight asked, her surprise morphing into concern as she looked at Sunset's wide-eyed, slack-jawed expression. "What's wrong?"

"It's from Applejack," Sunset answered in a strangely level tone, slowly turning her head towards Twilight. "Her sister found the other me."

"What?! Seriously?!" Twilight squeaked, her own meal abandoned without thought as she leaned over to get a better look at Sunset's phone. The other girl obliged by tilting it towards her friend, and after Twilight's eyes made short work of the message they slowly looked up into Sunset's. Then both girls looked back at the message.

Finally, after several seconds that ticked by like ages, Twilight spoke again. "What are you going to do?"

Sunset flopped back against the bed and stared at the opposite wall, eyes moving as she thought. "I don't know, this is all so sudden."

Then, in one quick movement, she brushed her spilled salad aside, folded her legs under her, and set to work typing out a reply as fast as her thumbs could move. "I _have_ to know what she's like."

She sent it off in seconds, and turned to see that Twilight was now facing her – though distracted by picking up stray bits of lettuce and cucumber off her bedroom floor. She smiled sheepishly when she noticed Sunset's gaze.

Sunset returned it with an awkward laugh. "Yeah, I guess I made a bit of a mess, didn't I?" she said, helping her friend deposit the stray greens and things back into the bowl they'd come from. "Sorry."

"No no, don't worry," Twilight said quickly, waving her hands from side to side. "It's no big deal. I mean, you just got a lead on your alternate self and I know from experience how shocking just learning they _exist_ can be. N-not that this is the same as what _I_ went through or anything," she said, looking away slightly as she began to ramble leaving her unaware of the beep from Sunset's phone. "Cause I mean, _obviously_ our situations are pretty different, and-"

"She's some kinda cool-looking biker chick, apparently," Sunset answered, transfixed by her phone again.

Twilight blinked. "Biker chick?" she repeated uncertainly.

"Yup," Sunset nodded before screwing up her face a little. "Also a jerk, maybe? AJ isn't being very clear, but I guess that's what happens when you try to get information from a secondhand source."

"Even so, this is a big deal, isn't it?" Twilight asked. "You've finally found the other you! Well," she reasoned as she leaned back slightly, "assuming you leave as soon as possible to go meet her in person, of course."

She noticed Sunset frowning while she texted, and felt her mouth do the same. " _Are_ you going to meet her in person?"

Sunset sent off the text, then leaned back and sighed as she stared up at the ceiling. "That's the thing, now that the opportunity is in front of me I don't know what I actually wanna do about it. There's so much I'd like to ask her, but at the same time I don't know if I wanna just...," she waved her hand vaguely, "drop myself into her life like that. What if she freaks out? What if something goes horribly wrong?"

"But what if this is your only chance?" Twilight countered, worry in her eyes. "What if you never find her again?"

"Y'know," Sunset chuckled lightly and looked back at her, "I never expected _you_ to be the one to talk me into something."

"I just didn't want you to do something you might regret later...," Twilight admitted, looking down at her fidgeting hands. Then she laughed and added "Which is ironic considering that statement usually implies a desire to _prevent_ action instead of _encourage_ it."

"Yeah," Sunset said, and the two shared a quiet look that lasted just long enough for them to be aware of how long they'd been staring, blush, and turn away from each other. "S-so, I asked Applejack to try and get more information from her sister. I know I'm risking never seeing the other me again, but I'd like to be careful with this and find out as much as possible before I make a move. Even just a _picture_ of her would be good."

She paused, then looked back at Twilight and asked "That's not creepy, is it?"

Twilight shrugged. "Seems fine to me. I know _I_ would've liked more information... and _warning_... before I met _my_ alternate-dimension counterpart."

That got another laugh from Sunset. "Yeah, that just kinda... _happened_ , didn't it?"

"Yup," Twilight chuckled. "One minute we're having a picnic in front of the statue, the next minute my Equestrian counterpart stumbles through it apologizing for being late!" She paused, and her smile faded. "It wasn't the _weirdest_ thing that's ever happened to me, but it was still pretty weird."

"Hey, at least it all turned out well in the end," Sunset told her, voice warm and a hand on Twilight's shoulder.

"True," Twilight admitted, hunching a little and shooting bashful glances at her friend. "Hopefully it'll work out well for-"

Twilight phone went off, startling both of the girls. "-you too," Twilight finished, more out of impetus than anything else as she pulled out her phone. Her brow quickly furrowed.

"Who is it?" Sunset asked, worry creeping into her voice. "Is something wrong?"

Twilight shook her head. "It's just Fluttershy's reply to the group text about Amethyst Shine. She says she's sorry about not getting back to me sooner, and that she's too busy right now to actively go searching for anyone. But she says if she sees anyone matching Amethyst's description, she'll let us know."

Sunset frowned, leaning back once more. "That's..." she began to say, searching for the rest of the words.

"...kind of disappointing?" Twilight suggested.

She nodded. "Yeah. But in a weird way, y'know? Since we have another lead on the other me now I'm not sure how important finding Amethyst Shine even _is_ anymore. Do you think we should tell the girls what happened and call off the search?"

Twilight leaned back and tapped her chin in thought for a few seconds, then shook her head. "I don't think we should call of the search just yet. It's entirely plausible that we, or rather Applejack's sister,will lose track of your counterpart leaving us with no immediate leads on her whereabouts," she said in a scholarly tone, closing her eyes and holding up a single finger. "In that event, having an additional person we can track down for information will significantly increase our chances of relocating your counterpart."

She looked back at Sunset. "But we should probably tell the others what Applejack's sister found, yes."

"Right," Sunset told her, briefly glancing at Twilight's phone. "You text Fluttershy back first, I'll send the others a group text." Her phone went off in her hand, momentarily startling her. " _After_ I find out what Applejack's learned," she finished, opening up the latest message.

Once more, a frown crept on to Sunset's lips. "She says Apple Bloom isn't texting her back," she told Twilight without looking away from the screen of her phone. "And Rarity isn't getting a response from Sweetie Belle either?" she added, raising a brow.

"I guess they must've already met up," Twilight said, leaning over to look at the message before looking at Sunset herself. Sunset didn't look back.

"I guess so," she said. "But still, something must've happened if their sisters aren't keeping in touch. I'm gonna ask what happened." Her thumbs moved in a flurry, and once the message had been sent off she shook her head and sighed. "This is so _surreal_. I thought for sure we'd be focused entirely on figuring out magic today, but we've barely had any time for it." She looked over at Twilight, and added "Sorry for taking us off-track with all this. I know how much you were looking forward to our research project."

Twilight put on a smile and shook her head. "It's fine. This is important too, isn't it?"

"You're really okay with getting so behind schedule?" Sunset asked, the healthy amount of skepticism in her voice causing Twilight to look down at her hands briefly.

"Well...," she began, still not quite meeting Sunset's eyes. "I am a _little_ uncomfortable with not following the schedule, but I understand that these things happen." She finally looked back at Sunset, and smiled. "I'd rather take things as they come than force you to follow a schedule when there are other things going on."

"Thanks," Sunset said softly, smiling back. "But I-"

Whatever she was about to say was cut off by the sound of yet another text, and her frown soon returned as she saw what it said. "Apparently, Apple Bloom and her friends wanted to follow the other me or something, but Big Macintosh said no so she asked AJ if it was okay?" Sunset read, brow furrowing more and more with each phrase. "And AJ told her to just stay put because she wanted to hear what _I_ wanted to do about it first, but when she asked the girls for more information they never replied..."

"Okay, okay," Twilight said, nodding along. "What happened then?"

"Then Big Macintosh called her and said the girls just... ran off!" Sunset answered, waving a hand in disbelief.

"They just ran off?" Twilight repeated incredulously.

"Apparently!" Sunset replied, eyes wide as she shrugged.

Twilight frowned. "I hope they're okay..."

Sunset looked at her phone again, touched her forehead, and sighed. "Applejack thinks they probably turned their phones off so they could sneak around better, or something."

"Still, I hope they're alright," Twilight said, shifting onto her knees and leaning slightly towards her friend.

"Me too. The last thing I want is my friends' little sisters getting into trouble because of me." Sunset sighed, and started working on the next text. "I'm gonna tell her and Rarity to call off the other searches and just focus on finding their sisters before something bad happens. Probably ask Pinkie and Rainbow Dash to do the same thing..."

"Don't you think that might be overdoing it a little?" Twilight asked. "I'm worried about Apple Bloom and her friends too, but _our_ friends can handle themselves, can't they? You can just... tell them to be careful and stay in touch."

Sunset scrunched her face up uncertainly. "I mean, I guess, but I still kinda feel like maybe this was a bad idea."

Twilight put a hand on her shoulder. "It isn't," she said, immediately – and awkwardly – adding "I mean, at least I don't _think_ it is. But my perspective is _different_ , and-" she shook her head quickly- "that doesn't matter. My point is, you shouldn't call trying to find your counterpart a bad idea just because something none of us could have predicted happened, especially when we don't have control over it and we don't even know if anything bad actually happened! That's just... just..."

"'Dumber than a hog tying itself'?" Sunset answered, looking at her phone.

Twilight stared at her for a moment before saying "Well, I wasn't gonna put it like that... I'm not even sure what _that_ means!"

"It's what Applejack said," Sunset answered, looking at her friend. "She's pretty against calling off the search, and says Rarity is too." She let out a single, pathetic laugh. "They're not even _worried_. Or if they are, they aren't telling me."

"I guess it's because they don't want _you_ to worry, right?" Twilight told her. "They want you to trust them to be able to take care of themselves, and their sisters too."

Sunset sighed, looking back at the far wall. "I know, I know. It's just this is all so sudden and unexpected, and I don't want anybody getting hurt because of me again."

Then, to Sunset's surprise – and after no small moment of uncertainty – Twilight shifted her entire body and linked arms with her. "I know I wasn't there back then, but after everything I've heard about you, I'm confident that this situation is completely different. This isn't you going around making other people miserable, this is just you worrying about something bad happening to people who want to help you. Right?"

Another short laugh, and Sunset closed her eyes and smiled. "Yeah, I guess." She leaned her head back, then opened one eye and looked at Twilight. "When did _you_ get to be so good at talking to people?"

Twilight smiled, and blushed a little. "What can I say? I learned from the best. And if I've learned one thing from being around you and the others, it's that friends look out for each other no matter what. That includes when they're having sudden doubts about letting their friends do something for them, right?"

"Right," Sunset laughed, more genuine this time though she still closed her eyes and shook her head.

When she opened them again she looked straight into Twilight's, and for a moment both girls found themselves suddenly lost in one another, wanting just a little bit more...

But then the moment passed, insecurities caught up, and Sunset and Twilight alike turned away to hide their blushes and clear away the thoughts they each were sure were unrequited.

"S-so...," Twilight stammered in an attempt to fill the resulting awkward silence. After a few seconds pause to think about what she actually wanted to say, she added "If you'd like to go out into the city yourself and look for your counterpart personally, I'd understand."

"No no," Sunset said quickly, "I'd rather stay here with you. Because... I..." She, too, paused for a good while to figure out what to say. "I'm... still not sure I even _want_ to meet her right now. It'd probably just be, I don't know, weird, right?" she said, looking away and rubbing the back of her head. "I mean, I _do_ wanna know more about her, but I think I need to plan any potential meeting between us pretty carefully since she'll probably be pretty freaked out no matter what I do. That makes sense, right?" She looked at Twilight with her anxious uncertainty plain on her face.

"I... guess so?" Twilight answered, even her lips uncertain as she shrugged her shoulders.

It relieved Sunset nonetheless. "Plus I do still want to help you out with everything," she said, motioning to the parts and plans scattered around the room. "I'm not really the type of person to ask for help on a project and then bail when it's time to get to work."

"Oh, I don't mind," Twilight told her a little too quickly, which she herself soon realized. "Not that I don't want you _around_ or anything," she tried to explain, "in fact I really enjoy having you around! B-because you're my friend! It's just that I'm totally fine doing projects on my own, and I don't really _need_ any help building the new magic detector! N-not that I don't think you'd be _able_ to help, just that I'm not sure what I'd even need you to do, and-"

"Twilight, Twilight, relax, I get it!" Sunset said, smiling as she motioned for her friend to calm down.

Twilight let her breath out as a small sigh. "Good. Because I was starting to get worried that I didn't."

"But still," Sunset admitted after a brief glance at the loose fists her hands had balled themselves into, "I'd rather just... stay with you for now. Maybe if something more happens with the other me or the girls need help we can go check it out, but for now I'd rather just stay here and try to relax a little."

The girls looked at one another for a few moments, then Twilight nodded. "Okay. Let's finish up with our lunches and get to work."

Sunset looked down at her lap and legs, seeing the bits of lettuce and dressing and such that still speckled them and laughing awkwardly. "Yeah, I should probably clean up a bit, shouldn't I?"

"Probably," Twilight told her with a small smile.

* * *

It didn't take very long at all for the girls to get the remains of their lunches cleaned up, even with Sunset insisting on doing most of the work. A few paper towels and a good rinse for the bowls later, Sunset returned to Twilight's room with Spike in tow. Together they carved a safe work area out of the cluttered room, and began the first steps of Twilight's construction plan.

What followed was over an hour and a half of them 'helping' Twilight build a device that Sunset barely understood the mechanics of. Mostly she just watched her friend work, passing the occasional tool and asking questions when she became curious about whatever Twilight was doing in the moment. But with the answers outpacing Twilight's ability to build, those moments were far between.

"You really weren't kidding about not needing help for this," Sunset quipped, now sitting ready on the floor playing a light game of tug-of-war with Spike.

Twilight hummed a little as she inspected her work, glanced over at Sunset. "Well, yes. I'm not exactly treading new ground with this. At least," she turned a thoughtful look upward as she spun back around, "not yet." She turned her attention back to the casing, picked up her soldering iron, and got back to work.

Sunset watched her for a moment, then absentmindedly started scratching Spike between the ears while checking her phone again.

"Mmm... that's good...," the dog said, tail thumping against the ground and thick, knotted rope he'd been playing with forgotten for the moment at his paws. Sunset slowed her scratching just long enough for him to take notice, and when he did he looked up at her and frowned. "Is something wrong? You've been looking at that thing like every five minutes since I came back up here."

"I'm just waiting for another text from Applejack," Sunset answered over the sound of Twilight's soldering iron. "I haven't heard a word from her since she let me know that Big Macintosh lost their sister. I'm getting worried."

Twilight paused her work again to lift her mask and shoot Sunset an incredulous look. "' _Getting_ '?"

Sunset rolled her eyes. "Okay, I'm getting _more_ worried. Even _with_ Applejack and Rarity assuring me they'll track them down and make sure they're okay."

"I'm still fine with you leaving to check on things," Twilight said in an almost singsong voice, shifting into a happy hum as she resumed her work.

"I know, I know," Sunset sighed, leaning back to rest on her hands. "Call me stubborn, but I'd still rather just stay here with you in case you need me."

"Well, if you're sure," Twilight said after a moment, not turning her head or raising her mask this time.

Silence fell back on them for a good while more as Twilight worked and her two closest friends played. Sunset kept on checking her phone to no avail, and even her requests for an update from Applejack and Rarity were met with nothing but apologies. A dropped screwdriver caused her to eagerly spring to action to return it to Twilight, but all that resulted in was bumped heads when Twilight bent down to pick it up as well.

"Sorry...," Sunset said, rubbing her head with one hand and handing the screwdriver up to Twilight with the other.

"It's fine," Twilight said, her mask up and smile patient as she accepted the tool. "You know, if you'd really like something to do right now that doesn't involve tracking down your counterpart, you could always tell me more about how magic works in Equestria."

"Don't you need to focus on building the detector?" Sunset questioned, sitting back on her knees.

"Yes," Twilight admitted without hesitation, "but I can still spare _some_ brainpower to asking you questions that'll help guide our research."

Sunset looked away, her face blank as she thought. But in mere moments she was looking back, and giving Twilight a shallow nod. "Yeah, okay. Might as well do something productive."

"Hey, scratching _me_ is productive!" Spike protested, standing his front paws on Sunset's lap.

She laughed. "Sure, sure," she told him, resuming the physical affection. She then turned to Twilight, and asked "So what do you want to know first?"

Twilight tapped her chin a few times before answering. "Well, what _is_ magic exactly? I get that it emits energy and has all these crazy effects, but what actually is it? A particle? A wave? Something else?"

"Beats me," Sunset answered, shrugging. "That kind of thing is pretty far ahead of Equestrian science, at least as far as I know. But if I had to guess, probably a particle? Ambient magic is a pretty big thing, and I can't imagine _that_ being only a wave of energy or whatever. But then again," she said, bringing a finger across her chin as she frowned thoughtfully, "does that explain how it's produced by ponies and other magical creatures?"

"Produced?" Twilight asked, the bulk of her focus still on her work.

"Yeah. The magic in our cutie marks, and the magic that lets unicorns cast spells and pegasi manipulate the weather and gives earth ponies a knack for growing things, is something that comes from within us," Sunset explained, looking at the sunny sky through the room's sole window and placing her hands over her heart.

Twilight paused her work to look at Sunset. "Is it possible that your bodies are converting that 'ambient magic' you mentioned into what I assume is a more useable form?"

Sunset shook her head. "If it is, then it's never been proven. Not in normal situations, anyway."

"Normal?"

"Like, everyday stuff. Some big spells do end up taking in ambient magic as fuel, but most spellwork ends up _raising_ the ambient levels a little bit depending on how skilled the unicorn is."

"So... it's a matter of efficiency, I assume? The more skilled a unicorn is, the better they are at using their own magic without it being lost as ambient magic?"

"Exactly," Sunset nodded. "Anyway, if pony bodies really _were_ converting ambient magic into a more usable form, that raises the question of why the AIE is even a thing."

"AIE?"

"Ambient interference effect, sorry. It describes how ambient magic interferes with a unicorn's ability to cast spells. Generally speaking, the more ambient magic in the area the harder it is to cast."

Twilight looked at her ceiling, lost in thought. "I suppose it could be a matter of the conversion rate between ambient magic and pony magic..."

"Could be," Sunset shrugged, eyes drifting down to Spike who was laying half on her lap, watching them with confused silence. Sunset began to pet his back, causing him to close his eyes and wag his tail. "It's true that high enough levels of ambient magic _can_ have catalyzing effects, but the turnover points are... well, there's a bunch of them depending on how old the ambient magic is, what its original source was, what spell is being attempted, and a whole bunch of other factors, but for the most part they're high enough to make the ambient _catalyzing_ effect _extremely_ rare."

"Hmm...," Twilight murmured, tapping her chin. Her work on the detector had, for the moment, been forgotten. "So time is a factor, and I take it there are distinct types of magic, then? Sounds a little like radiation if you ask me, which is consistent with the hypothesis that magic is, at least in some form, a particle."

"If you say so," Sunset replied, shaking her head a little in her uncertainty. "I used to have all the equations and laws that described it memorized, but it's been so long since I had to actually _use_ any of it that I'm getting rusty. Sorry."

"Don't worry, I understand," Twilight told her, eyes on her part of the project once more as she recalled what she'd been doing. "And at the very least, it's given me a better idea of what it is I originally detected, assuming this world's magic is similar in that respect anyway."

"That's the thing, though, I don't know if it really is," Sunset said. "Before I stole the Element of Magic and brought it here, this world's ambient magic was so low I almost thought it was nonexistent. But I don't know if that's because there's no native magical creatures to produce it, or-"

"-if there aren't any magical creatures in the first place because there's no ambient magic to sustain them?" Twilight finished.

"Pretty much," Sunset said. "Though I'm leaning towards the former, because how else do you explain _our_ magic? Even before we got our geodes," she looked down at her chest and clutched at a necklace that wasn't there, "we still had enough magic to let us pony-up when we were showing the truest parts of ourselves. That _has_ to mean the magic we have comes from inside us!"

"I suppose...," Twilight answered, her pursed lips showing her skepticism when her words didn't.

Sunset didn't notice it, too wrapped up in her own thoughts as she was. "But if the magic _is_ coming from inside of us like it does on Equestria, then why don't its actual _effects_ follow the rules they're supposed to?"

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, setting her work down once again and shifting her entire body to devote her attention to Sunset.

"Well for one thing, how come we got our powers _before_ we actually made contact with the geodes they come from?" Sunset asked, her petting of Spike halted as she began to gesticulate. "Why don't we ever seem to get tired while we're ponied up, even though we know from _experience_ that our magic can become depleted? Why did Spike permanently gain the ability to talk when he went through a portal to Equestria for all of five _seconds?_ "

"Beats me," Spike said, raising his head from her lap just enough to look at her better.

"And what the _heck_ was with those results I got from my initial experiments?" Sunset continued, growing more heated as she motioned to the notes she brought that were still on Twilight's bed. "I mean, I get that the equipment I used wasn't built to handle magic, but still. That was just _weird_."

Twilight laughed a little. "Yeah, you mentioned that on the bus. I still think we're going to have to repeat those experiments if we want to figure out what happened in them, though."

"Yeah, I think I see your point about that now," Sunset replied. "Though part of me still thinks it's a better idea to establish what we can and can't do _now_ , with our _current_ powers."

"Well, I suppose we can wait to decide which we focus on once the detector is finished," Twilight said, turning herself back to her work.

Sunset chuckled. "Yeah. I feel bad for distracting you from it again."

"So much for my ability to multitask, again," Twilight said, giggling a little as well.

Just as she began attaching a wire between two components, though, her phone went off and startled her into dropping it. "Who could _that_ be?" she wondered aloud, pulling off her insulated gloves to reach into her pocket and pull out her phone.

"Rainbow or Pinkie, maybe?" Sunset answered, becoming concerned as Twilight suddenly gaped.

"It's Rainbow Dash alright," Twilight said, eyes widening in shock as another text came in. "She's _found Amethyst Shine!_ "

"Wait, seriously?!" Sunset exclaimed, bolting to her feet and grabbing Twilight's phone. Sure enough there was a text from Rainbow Dash proclaiming mission accomplished, followed by a selfie of her – still fully powered-up – with her arm around an incredibly terrified-looking Amethyst Shine. "Holy _crap_ , she did!" she said, her disbelief so strong she nearly dropped Twilight's phone.

"What do we do?!" Twilight asked, her panic rising rapidly. "This possibility was so unlikely, I didn't even think to prepare for it! I expected a few awkward questions and where she lives at best, and only after days of searching! I didn't think Rainbow Dash would _capture_ her!"

"Me neither!" Sunset exclaimed, running fingers through her hair as she stared at Twilight's phone in hopeless desperation. Another text arrived from Rainbow Dash, eliciting a groan. "And now she wants to know if we wanna help _interrogate her!_ "

Twilight let out a strangled squeak.

"I know!" Sunset looked back at the string of messages, and groaned. "We seriously messed up the wording on the first text if _this_ is how Rainbow Dash interpreted it."

"What do we do?" Twilight moaned, sagging in her seat as words finally returned to her. "Ohh, Shining Armor's going to be so _mad_ when he finds out!"

"I- wait, your brother?" Sunset asked, suddenly screwing her face up in confusion. "What's he got to do with- never mind, it doesn't matter." Forcing herself back on track before Twilight could launch into an explanation, Sunset gave her head a shake and began replying to Rainbow Dash. " _I_ got us into this, so it's up to me to get us out of it."

"By telling Rainbow Dash to let her go and hope she doesn't call the cops?" Twilight asked through a wide and nervous grin.

"No, by going over there and explaining to Amethyst exactly what's going on," Sunset answered, tossing Twilight's phone back to her and making for the door.

"I-i-isn't that risky?" she asked, clutching the phone in both hands. "Won't it just make things worse if Rainbow Dash keeps detaining an innocent person?"

"Yeah, but it'll get worse anyway if that innocent person goes running to the police over a misunderstanding," Sunset stopped and told her, one hand on the doorknob. "At least this way we can all get some answers without making things more complicated than they already are."

Twilight looked at her phone, not really taking in the words on the darkened screen while she thought. Then she took a breath, looked at Sunset, and stood. "Alright. I'll come with you."

"No," Sunset replied, shaking her head. "I appreciate the offer, Twilight, I really do, but I've distracted you enough today as it is. I think it'll be for the better if you stay here and keep working on the detector while I go take care of this mess. Since I wasn't able to help you much, this'll be more efficient, right?"

She offered Twilight a smile, though it did little to reassure. "Don't worry. I'll stay in touch and tell you if I need you for anything, alright?"

Twilight was quiet for a good long while before nodding, and murmuring "Alright..."

Sunset returned the nod, and left.

* * *

She only gave Twilight's parents a quick excuse of something having come up as she passed them before racing out into the afternoon, and the sun beat down on her as if in anger as she ran all the way to the bus stop.

She knew going out was probably a bad idea, she really did. But Sunset had promised herself she'd get involved if anything else happened after her friends' sisters went missing just a few hours ago, and if now wasn't the time to do that she didn't know what was. She owed it to Rainbow Dash to try and personally get her out of any trouble caused by Sunset's desire to find her counterpart, right?

That's what she told herself on the bus, at least. And it was true, though not the full truth. But she couldn't quite admit to Twilight that she really, really wanted to ask Amethyst about the other Sunset herself. Even if Twilight would probably understand.

She was worried about what she'd do when she got there, worried about whether she'd do or say anything that was a little closer to how she'd been a year ago than she really wanted. That wasn't a side she wanted Twilight to see of her. Rainbow Dash was one thing; Rainbow Dash had already seen that side and the way she was acting would probably _want_ those old tactics. But Twilight?

No, she couldn't risk Twilight seeing that.

She pulled the cord to signal her stop, and got off in front of the building she lived in.

* * *

CPU. The standard gauge and waveform projector from the beta model predating her disastrous clam-shell design. And, of course, the all-important receiver she'd invented that was sensitive to the peculiar form of energy she now knew as magic. Twilight worked in silence connecting those components, knowing that she'd have to ensure they were fully operational before she could even _attempt_ to proceed with her new designs. Sunset was counting on her to produce a functional model so they could test their hypotheses regarding the magic.

Sunset was also acting strangely, right? More nervous than usual. Something was on her mind – just her counterpart, right? And yet, Twilight wasn't so sure. Why had Sunset been so insistent on staying with her when she didn't need the help and had already made a point to be understanding about Sunset's desire to leave? Again, Twilight wasn't sure. She wasn't about to complain about it, but...

But she was getting mentally off track. She needed to focus.

Boot up her computer, hook up the skeletal device to it and turn it on. The needle moves, the waveform goes wild. As expected. Run diagnostics; everything is working as it's designed to.

Detach the device, remove the older display modules. Connect the new display modules one at a time, and test the device between each one.

* * *

After spending so much of the day in Twilight's home, Sunset couldn't help feeling that her apartment was nothing but a disappointment. Just a single room filled with whatever furniture, appliances, and knickknacks she'd been able to scrounge up over the years from bargain stores, junkyards, and suburban yard sales. It was distinctly _hers_ , and she did love it, but...

...she couldn't help feel embarrassed by it when she thought about one day bringing Twilight over. Especially if it was as more than friends, as she'd long imagined. At one point she had thought Twilight might find it as cool and quirky as Sunset herself was, but that had been before seeing what sort of place Twilight was used to.

But now wasn't the time for those thoughts, and Sunset gave her head a good shake to force them away. She dashed up to her loft as quickly as she could, retrieved her geode from the bedside drawer it was in, then slid back down the ladder and raced out the door. She needed to catch the next bus to where Rainbow Dash was before her friend did something she'd regret.

* * *

Both girls raced to complete their tasks in the hopes it would lead them to the knowledge they were seeking; and both girls tried hard to focus on them by shutting out thoughts of each other. And even after all the messages they'd sent out and received over the course of the afternoon, neither could have been prepared for the one that struck their phones simultaneously.

It was from Pinkie.

Her sister had been robbed.


End file.
